Mutants of Streptokinase and their covalently modified forms

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to novel mutants of Streptokinase, its functional fragments and covalently modified forms. Methods are provided for the preparation of the bacterial plasminogen activator protein, Streptokinase its muteins, species variants and their covalently modified variants that are characterized by improved therapeutic properties, such as increased proteolytic stability, extended plasma half-lives, reduced immuno-reactivity and enhanced fibrin clot specificity. The method involves either incorporating additional cysteine residues, or substituting cysteine residues for naturally occurring amino acids into non-essential regions of the protein such that the catalytic activity of the resultant protein remains largely unaltered. These cysteine variants were further modified by covalently attaching a cysteine reactive polymer such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) or sulfhydryl-reactive moieties from a group that includes fluorophore, spin labels or other small conjugates. Disclosed herein are site-specific biologically active conjugates of Streptokinases and its covalently modified variants.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/415,142, filed Mar. 31, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,093,032, and IndianApplication No. 0837/DEL/2008, filed 31 Mar. 2001, each of which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING

A PDF of the sequence listing entitled “23801Z_SequenceListing.TXT” issubmitted herewith and is incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to mutants of streptokinase and theircovalently modified forms. The present invention utilizes thehomogenous, site-specific and defined PEG modification of streptokinaseand its related variants with substitutions, additions, deletions ordomain fusion constructs to allow their usage in the form of improvedprotein therapeutics.

2. Background of the Invention

Thrombus (blood clot) development in the circulatory system can causevascular blockage leading to fatal conditions. Development of clot andits dissolution is a highly controlled process for the hemostasis. Anydeviation from a normal hemostasis leads to various clinical conditionssuch as stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and acutemyocardial infarction. Patho-physiological conditions emerging out offailed hemostasis needs immediate clinical attention. The most practicedmedical intervention for such cases is intravenous administration ofthrombolytic agents (Collen et al., 1988; Collen, 1990; Francis andMarder, 1991). The most commonly used thrombolytic agents includeStreptokinase (SK), Urokinase (UK) and the tissue type plasminogenactivator (tPA). Numerous pharmacoeconomic appraisal of use of differentthrombolytics in the management of acute myocardial infarction have beencarried out in the past (Mucklow, 1995; Gillis and Goa, 1996). Banerjeeet. al., 2004, have reviewed the clinical usefulness of streptokinaseand its applicability as a drug of choice. As far as clinical efficacyis concerned both streptokinase and tPA fare equally well but due toseveral fold low cost and a slightly better in vivo half life,streptokinase is the most preferred thrombolytic worldwide (Sherry andMarder, 1991, Wu et al., 1998). Also, the use of tPA is slightly morelikely to cause strokes, the major side effect for both the drugs.However streptokinase, being a bacterial protein is antigenic in natureand may give rise to clinical complications such as allergic response orhemorrhage. Also, the circulating half-life (15-30 min) of streptokinaseis not sufficient for effective thrombolysis (Wu et al., 1998).

Despite all these, in recent years, thrombolytic therapy withfibrinolytic agents, such as Streptokinase (SK), tissue plasminogenactivator (TPA) or urokinase (UK) has revolutionized the clinicalmanagement of diverse circulatory diseases e.g., deep-vein thrombosis,pulmonary embolism and myocardial infarction. These agents exert theirfibrinolytic effects through activation of plasminogen (PG) in thecirculation by cleavage of the scissile peptide bond between residues561 and 562 in PG. As a result, inactive zymogen is transformed to itsactive form, the serine protease, plasmin (PN), which then circulates inthe system and acts on fibrin to degrade the later into solubledegradation products. It may be mentioned here that PN, by itself, isincapable of activating PG to PN; this reaction is catalyzed by highlyspecific proteases like TPA, the SK-plasminogen complex, and UK, all ofwhich possess an unusually narrow protein substrate preference, namely apropensity to cleave the scissile peptide bond in PG in a highlysite-specific manner. However, unlike UK and TPA, SK has no proteolyticactivity of its own, and it activates PG to PN “indirectly” i.e. byfirst forming a high-affinity equimolar complex with PG, known as theactivator complex (reviewed by Castellino, F. J., 1981). The activatorcomplex then acts as a protease that cleaves other, substrate moleculesof PG to PN.

Regardless of tremendous advances in therapeutic use of streptokinaseand other bacterial thrombolytics, there are several shortcomings thatlimit the usefulness of these polypeptide drugs. These disadvantagesinclude their susceptibility to degradation by proteolytic enzymes,short circulating half-life, short shelf-life, rapid kidney clearanceand their propensity to generate neutralizing antibodies. Theseshortcomings are also sometimes inherent to many other polypeptide drugsthat are non human in origin. This aspect in general is reviewed byRoberts et. al; 2002. Various attempts were made to overcome these shortcomings in polypeptide drugs, such as altering the amino-acid sequencesto reduce proteolysis or antigenicity, fusing the polypeptides toglobulin or albumin domains to improve half-life etc. (Osborn et. al.,2002). These methods provided little help to the problem and came alongwith associated burden. The major breakthrough in this area was methodof protein PEGylation that provided single solution to multipleproblems. PEG (Poly Ethylene Glycol) is formed by polymerizing number ofrepeating subunits of ethylene glycol to give rise to linear or branchedPEG polymers of tailored molecular masses. Once covalently conjugatedwith PEG the protein or polypeptide shows improved pharmacokinetic andpharmacodynamic properties such as increased water solubility, decreasedrenal clearance and often substantially limited immune reactivity(Moreadith et. al., 2003, Doherty et al., 2005, Basu et. al., 2006). ThePEG conjugation also makes the molecule proteolytically lesssusceptible. The decreased receptor interaction or interaction with cellsurface proteins that follows the PEG addition also helps to reduceadverse immunological effects. PEGylated drugs are also more stable overa wide range of pH and temperature changes (Monfardini et al. 1995). Useof PEG is FDA approved for therapeutics and it shows virtually notoxicity and eliminated from the body intact by either kidneys or infaeces. The beneficial features of PEG conjugation can be potentiallyimparted to SK to make it a more effective and safer thrombolytic.Attempt of SK PEGylation is reported in literature (Rajagopalan et. al.,1985) using a relatively non-specific chemical modification reaction.The therapeutic uses of such modifications were severely limited byhighly compromised plasminogen activation ability. Also the nature ofmodification was poorly defined and heterogeneous in nature. The reasonfor this heterogeneity was the chemistry used for PEG modification thatdoes not target modification of a specific site. This could be thereason why such modification strategy was not utilized for thedevelopment of improved SK based thrombolytics.

The term streptokinases used anywhere in the text collectively refersto: variants of streptokinase, any of its functional fragments,functional muteins, isolates from different species and fusion productsobtained through attachment of oligo or polypeptides of natural orartificial origin.

It is known that different functional groups present in a protein can beutilized for PEG introduction. The most commonly employed techniques arederivatization of lysine residues or cysteine residues in the protein.Alpha-amino group at the N-terminus can also be exploited for singlehomogenous conjugation of PEG in proteins (Baker et. al., 2006).However, the use of cysteine residues to bear the incorporated PEGgroups is particularly advantageous since, potentially, the —SH groupscan be targeted in a site-specific mode particularly if the proteinbears or made to bear a very limited number of cysteine residues. It isnot an exaggeration to state that PEG conjugation becomes an art formwhen the protein is devoid of any cysteine since it leaves a virtualblank canvass for cysteine addition, insertion or substitution forsite-specific PEG “painting”, or decoration, of proteins. Sincepotentially addition of cysteines into the cysteine free background canhave adverse effects on the protein function. Therefore, the selectionof sites for preparation of cysteine variants requires careful planningand execution. In contrast to, say, Lysine based modifications forPEGylation, although the chemistry is well defined, heterogeneity inreaction is a big disadvantage. In the case of SK, a large number oflysine residues are evenly spread all along the polypeptide and hencelimit the possibility of homogenous site-specific PEG conjugation. Moreinterestingly, there is no natural Cysteine present in the Streptokinasemolecule (Malke et. al., 1985), thus making it possible to generatevarious Cysteine variants of streptokinase. Also there are no freecysteines in the natively folded covalent variants of SK derived byfusion with fibrin binding domains (ref. U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817). Thisrenders the possibility of making various free cysteine containingvariants of Clot-specific streptokinase without actually interferingwith the normal refolding of the cysteine-rich protein (all the cysteineresidues being engaged in disulfide bond formation). The freeCysteine(s) introduced can be reacted with various thiol-reactivereagents including PEG to generate Cysteine adduct/s of these proteins.

Streptokinase (SK) is a generic name for a secretory protein produced bya variety of hemolytic streptococci that has the ability to induce lysisof plasma clots (Tillet and Garner, 1933). Because it can be easily andeconomically produced from its parent source, or through rDNA technologyfrom suitable heterologous hosts, SK is very cost effective and thus isa major thrombolytic drug particularly for the cost-conscious marketsworld-wide. SK has been found very effective in the clinical treatmentof acute myocardial infarction following coronary thrombosis (ISIS-3,1992) and has served as a thrombolytic agent for more than threedecades. However, it suffers from a number of drawbacks. It is knownthat the plasmin produced through the streptokinase mediated activationof plasminogen breaks down streptokinase soon after its injection(Rajagopalan et. al., 1985, Wu et. al., 1998). This limits the in vivohalf-life of streptokinase to about 15 min (Wu et. al., 1998). Althoughstreptokinase survives in circulation significantly longer than doesanother thrombolytic drug of choice, TPA (with a half-life less than 5min; Ross, 1999; Ouriel, 2002), this is still short for efficienttherapy (Wu et al., 1998). Because of the recognized shortcomingsrelated to rapid in vivo clearance of the available plasminogenactivators, attempts are underway to develop improved recombinantvariants of these compounds (Nicolini et al., 1992, Adams et al., 1991,Lijnen et al., 1991; Marder, 1993, and Wu et al., 1998). Despite itsinherent problems, streptokinase remains the drug of choice particularlyin the developing countries because of its low relative cost (e.g.,approximately US$ 50 or less per treatment compared to nearly US $ 1500for TPA).

Streptokinase was first reported to cause lysis of blood clots by Tilletand Garner (1933). However, later it was established that thefibrinolytic activity of SK originates from its ability to activatehuman plasminogen (HPG, reviewed by Castellino, 1979). Streptokinase ismainly secreted by -hemolytic group A, C and G streptococci. SK is anactivator of human PG though itself it is not a protease, rather itbinds to human PG/PN and recruits other HPG molecules as substrate andconverts these into product, PN. The latter circulates in the bloodstream. Plasmin, being a non-specific protease, the generalized andimmediate PN generation subsequent to SK injection results in largescale destruction of various blood factors leading to risk ofhemorrhage, as also the dissolution of ECM and basement membrane (BM)and enhances bacterial invasiveness into secondary infection siteswithin the host body (Esmon and Mather, 1998; Lahteenmaki et al., 2001).Thus, there is an acute need to minimize the side-effects by designingimproved SK analogs.

SK is currently being extensively used as a thrombolytic drug world widesince it is an efficient fibrin clot dissolver, yet it has its ownlimitations. SK being a protein produced from β hemolytic streptococci,its use in humans induces immunogenicity (McGrath and Patterson, 1984;McGrath et al., 1985; Schweitzer et al., 1991). The high titres ofanti-SK immunoglobulins (Ig) generated after the first SK administrationare known to persist in patients for several months to a few years (Leeet al., 1993). Thus, the anti-SK antibodies severely limit its use asfuture repeat therapy by either neutralizing SK upon administration(Spottal and Kaiser, 1974; Jalihal and Morris, 1990) or by causing arange of allergic reactions (McGrath and Patterson, 1984; McGrath etal., 1985).

As mentioned before, the use of streptokinase in thrombolytic therapy ishampered by the relatively short half-life (a few minutes) of thisprotein in vivo (which indeed is the case with all presently employedthrombolytic drugs), apart from its immunogenicity. It is observed thatforeign proteins when introduced into the vertebrate circulation areoften cleared rapidly by the kidneys. This situation becomes even moreacute in case of streptokinase where progressively higher doses of theprotein (to overcome antibody based rapid neutralization) can severelyincrease probability of allergic response/s, making the repeatedadministration essentially ineffective and dangerous. Attempts to solvethese problems in general, are well documented in the literature wherevarious physical and chemical alterations have been shown to be usefulfor generation of improved therapeutics, e.g. see: Mateo, C. et al 2000,Lyczak, J. B. & Morrison, S. L. 1994, Syed, S. et. al; 1997, Allen, T.M. 1997. The most promising of these to-date is the approach ofmodification of therapeutic proteins by covalent attachment ofpolyalkylene oxide polymers, particularly polyethylene glycols (PEG).PEG is a non-antigenic, inert polymer and is known to increase thecirculating half-life of the proteins in the body (Abuchowski et al.,1984; Hershfield, 1987; Meyers et al., 1991). This allows the extendedaction of the drug in use. It is believed that PEG conjugation toproteins increases their overall size and hence reduces their rapidrenal clearance. PEG attachment also makes the protein or polypeptidemore water soluble and increases its stability under in vivo conditionsalong with markedly reducing immunogenicity and increasing in vivostability (Katre et al., 1987; Katre, 1990). U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,337discloses the use of PEG or polypropylene glycol coupled to proteins toprovide a physiologically active non-immunogenic water solublepolypeptide composition.

Although the chemistry of PEG conjugation is mostly generic butstrategic placement of PEG polymers in a therapeutic protein is ofparamount importance to achieve successful outcomes. Availability ofthree dimensional structural information with functional hot spotsearmarked through various solution studies, helps in designingmutational plan to keep the functionality intact.

The complete amino acid sequence of SK was determined by sequentialEdman degradation analysis of SK fragments generated by cyanogen bromideand enzymatic methods (Jackson and Tang, 1982). The results establishedthat the molecule of Mr 47,408 Da, contains 415 amino acids in a singlepolypeptide chain amino acid sequence.

The nucleotide sequence from S. equisimilis H46A (the prototype strainfor SK production that is most often used therapeutically in humans) wassequenced by Malke and co-workers, in 1985. The transcriptional controlof this gene has also been studied and the functional analysis of itscomplex promoter has been reported (Grafe et al., 1996). Considerableinformation exists, therefore, for effectively using this gene inproducing streptokinase safely in relatively non-pathogenic microbes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides mutants of streptokinase,its functional fragments or covalently modified forms. The variantscomprise polypeptides related to SK where one or more Cysteine residuesare substituted for one or more non-essential amino-acids of theproteins. Preferably the variants comprise a Cysteine residuesubstituted for an amino-acid selected from amino-acids in the loopregions, the ends of the alpha helices and even in the secondarystructure-forming regions, or regions wherein the Cysteine residue isadded at the N-terminus or C-terminus of the proteins with or withoutadded amino acid extensions.

The present invention involves the general methods for the selection,production and use of streptokinases that show increased proteolyticstability, extended plasma elimination half-life and reducedimmunogenicity. The derivatives have modified amino-acid sequences butretain their biological activity effectively. The invention alsodescribes cysteine variants of Streptokinases that are covalentlyattached to one or more molecules of polyethylene glycol (PEG) ofvarious molecular weights such as at least about 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4,0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18,20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 or 70kDa, or more. Of course, any of the indicated weights above can serve asa lower and upper limit to a range of molecular weights. For example,the PEG used in the present invention may have a molecular weight ofbetween about 1 kDa and about 2 kDa, or between about 1 kDa and about 3kDa, or between about 2 kDa and about 6 kDa, etc. One of the embodimentsof the present invention encompasses pharmaceutical compositions of thePEGylated Streptokinase derivatives together with suitable excipients,stabilizers, and carriers as are known in the art for effectivedissemination in the body for the treatment of diverse circulatorydisorders.

The present invention relates to covalent attachment of PEG to cysteinevariants of streptokinase, its muteins, species variants or fibrinfusion products, using thiol reactive PEG reagents. One can also use thedifferent pKa value of alpha amine groups to carry out alpha-aminespecific PEG conjugation at acidic pH to generate mono-PEGylatedderivatives of streptokinase or its muteins.

The present invention also relates to identifying various Cysteinevariants of Streptokinase, or its mutants including related covalentvariants on the basis of structural and functional information (Wang etal., 1998). Structural comparison of other one domain plasminogenactivator, staphylokinase (SAK) shows strong similarity with SK alphadomain although the two have no significant sequence homology at aminoacid level (Rabijns et al., 1997). This indicates that plasminogenactivators from different sources retain the same structural fold evenif they differ much in their polypeptide sequence. The evolutionaryconstrain to keep the structural integrity is expected because bacterialplasminogen activators are protein cofactors, therefore utilize multiplecontact points required for conformational activation of zymogen. Suchstructural similarity extends the scope of this invention furtherbecause the methods practiced in this case can be applied to bacterialplasminogen activators from other genre or species that share thesimilar plasminogen activation domains. For this reason, the “rules”disclosed herein for creating biologically active cysteine variants ofstreptokinase will be useful for creating biologically active cysteinevariants of various other forms of streptokinase. Conjugation of thesecysteine variants with cystine-reactive PEGs will impart similarbenefits as obtained with the variants used in this study. The rules fordetermining the site of Cysteine placement was largely based on the ideato choose from the surface exposed residues falling either in the loopor helix or the sheets or in the boundaries of structural and flexibleregions. To determine the surface accessibility DSSP program was used.The DSSP (Kabsch et al., 1983) program defines secondary structure,geometrical features and solvent exposure of proteins, given atomiccoordinates in Protein Data Bank format. DSSP states each residue'sexposure in terms of square Angstroms. Surface accessibility of thestreptokinase amino-acid residues were deciphered from high resolutioncrystal structure of streptokinase in complex of microplasmin (Wang etal., 1998, PDB ID IBML). For the regions that were missing in thisstructure (175-181 and 252-262) crystal structure of the isolated betadomain (Wang et al., 1999, PDB ID Ic4p) was used for determination ofsurface exposure.

Cysteine variants of streptokinase its muteins, species variants and itscovalently modified forms were further chemically modified by attachingsulfhydryl reactive reagents, followed by empirical testing forsubstantial retention of biological activity along with gain in newproperties such as reduced immunogenicity, or reaction with anti-SKantibodies, reduced proteolytic susceptibility, increased in vivosurvival etc. More particularly, the invention relates to production ofengineered streptokinase derivatives for use in pharmaceuticalcompositions for treating circulatory disorders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an SDS-PAGE showing purified cysteine variants ofstreptokinase and their PEG adducts. Panel A shows cysteine variant ofalpha domain (SEQ ID NO: 30) of streptokinase where aspartate present at95th position in the flexible loop 88-97 has been replaced withcysteine. This unique cysteine so generated has been PEGylated withthiol reactive PEG polymer methoxy-PEG maleimide of 20 KDa followed bypurification to give a homogeneous protein-PEG adduct. Panel B showscysteine variant of the SK beta domain (SEQ ID NO: 49) where serine at258th position in the 250 loop of beta domain has been replaced withcysteine. This unique cysteine so generated has been PEGylated withthiol reactive PEG polymer methoxy-PEG maleimide to give protein-PEGadduct of higher molecular weight. Panel C shows cysteine variant ofstreptokinase where the original sequence of streptokinase has beenextended by one more amino-acid by adding cysteine at C-terminusposition (SEQ ID NO 490). The thiol so generated at C-termini (C-CYS)has been cross-linked with methoxy-PEG maleimide of 20 KDa to giveprotein-PEG adduct of higher molecular weight. Panel D shows thebi-pegylated variant of streptokinase (SEQ ID NO: 491), where cysteinehas been placed one each at both N and C-terminus of the originalsequence of streptokinase. The double cysteine mutant so generated hasbeen modified with PEG of molecular weight 20 KDa.

FIG. 2 depicts the circular map of pET-23d-SK, the expression vectoremployed for the expression of streptokinase in E. coli. The circularmap highlights a few selected, unique RE sites on the pET-23d vector, aT7-RNA polymerase promoter-based expression vector (Studier et al.,1990) and the incorporated gene encoding for SK that was used for theconstruction and expression of SK and its muteins.

FIG. 3 shows the spectroscopically obtained progress curves of HPGactivation by nSK and bi-pegylated streptokinase variant NC 1-414 (SEQID NO: 491). For reaction 0.5 nanomolar of nsk abd bi-pegylated NC 1-414were added to two different wells of multiwall plate already containing1 micromole of HPG and 0.5 mM of chromogenic substrate (S-2251). Thereaction was then monitored spectrophotometrically at 405 nm. Thecircles show the progress curves for nSk while squares denote progresscurve for bi-pegylated NC 1-414. Noticeably, the progress curves showsignificant lag in the ability to activate plasminogen for bi-pegylatedNC 1-414 but not in case of nSK.

FIG. 4 shows progress curves of HPG activation by equimolar complex ofnSK or bi-PEGylated NC 1-414 (SEQ ID NO: 491) with human plasmin.Catalytic amount (0.05 nm) of either equimolar complexes were added tomultiwall plate already containing 1 μM of HPG and 0.5 mM of chromogenicsubstrate (S-2251). Progress curves show the comparable plasminogenactivablity for both nSK and the bi-pegylated SK variant (NC 1-414).This proves the notion that physical capping of SK at termini generatesa “Plasmin Switch” in the molecule and restricts or delay itsplasminogen activation capability in absence of plasmin. The use ofpreformed complex of bi-PEGylated streptokinase NC 1-414 with plasminabolishes the time lag seen in FIG. 3, and thus establishes the plasmindependency for normal plasminogen activation ability by the PEGylated SKwhich is in contrast to nSK which does not show a lag irrespective ofthe absence/presence of plasmin in the reaction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide mutants ofstreptokinase with potential for increased efficacy due to extendedaction and reduced immuno-reactivity.

Another object of the present invention relates to novel mutants ofStreptokinase, its functional fragments and covalently modified forms.

Another object of the invention is to provide methods for thepreparation of the bacterial plasminogen activator protein,Streptokinase its muteins, species variants and their covalentlymodified variants that are characterized by improved therapeuticproperties, such as increased proteolytic stability, extended plasmahalf-lives, reduced immune-reactivity and enhanced fibrin clotspecificity. The methods involve either incorporation additionalcysteine residues, or substituting cysteine residues for naturallyoccurring amino acids into non-essential regions of the protein suchthat the catalytic activity of the resultant protein remains largelyunaltered.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method forthe production of PEGylated cysteine variants of streptokinase or itsactive muteins or the hybrid plasminogen activator molecules in pure andbiologically active form.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mutantstreptokinase polypeptide comprising from one to three cysteinesubstitutions, wherein the cysteine substitution is located acid in atleast one region corresponding to the native amino acid sequence ofStreptokinase (SEQ ID NO: 1), the region being selected from the groupconsisting of the loop of amino acid residues 48-64, the loop of aminoacid residues 88-97, the region of amino acid residues 102-106, theregion of amino acid residues 119-124, the helix forming region of aminoacid residues 196-207, the loop forming region of amino acid residues170-181, the loop forming region of amino acid residues 254-264, thecoiled coil region of amino acid residues 318-347 and the region ofamino acid residues 360-372, wherein the mutant can activateplasminogen.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinase comprises at least oneamino acid substitution, the amino acid substitution corresponding to anamino acid substitution being selected from the group consisting ofAsn90Ala, His107Ala, Ser108Ala, Asp227Tyr, Asp238Ala, Glu240Ala,Arg244Ala, Lys246Ala, Leu260Ala, Lys278Ala, Lys279Ala and Asp359Arg ofSEQ ID NO:1.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinase comprises at least onecysteine mutation at a position corresponding to G49, S57, A64, 188,S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120, K121, D122, E148, K156, D173, D174,L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255, K256, K257, S258, L260, E281, K282,F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347, D360 or R372 of SEQ ID NO:1.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinase comprises at least twocysteine mutations at a position corresponding to G49, S57, A64, 188,S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120, K121, D122, E148, K156, D173, D174,L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255, K256, K257, S258, L260, E281, K282,F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347, D360 or R372 of SEQ ID NO:1.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinase comprises at least threecysteine mutations at a position corresponding to G49, S57, A64, 188,S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120, K121, D122, E148, K156, D173, D174,L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255, K256, K257, S258, L260, E281, K282,F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347, D360 or R372 of SEQ ID NO:1.

In another embodiment the mutants, further comprise a fibrin bindingdomain fused to the C-terminus, the N-terminus or both termini. Inanother embodiment, the fibrin binding domain is connected to the mutantstreptokinase via a flexible connecting oligopeptide.

In another embodiment, the mutants comprising a fibrin-binding domaincomprise at least one cysteine substitution in the fibrin bindingdomain.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinase comprises a deletion, thedeletion corresponding to an amino acid deletion being selected from thegroup consisting of Asn90, Asp227 and Asp359 of SEQ ID NO:1.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a fusionpolypeptide, the fusion polypeptide comprising a streptokinase domainand a fibrin binding domain, the streptokinase domain comprising fromone to three cysteine substitutions, wherein the cysteine substitutionis located in the fibrin binding domain or at least one regioncorresponding to the native amino acid sequence of Streptokinase (SEQ IDNO: 1), the region being selected from the group consisting of the loopof amino acid residue 48-64, the loop of amino acid residues 88-97, theregion of amino acid residues 102-106, the region of amino acid residues119-124, the helix forming region of amino acid residues 196-207, theloop forming region of amino acid residues 170-181, the loop formingregion of amino acid residues 254-264, the coiled coil region of aminoacid residues 318-347, and the region of amino acid residues 360-372 ofSEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the mutant can activate plasminogen and bindfibrin.

In another embodiment, the mutant streptokinase comprises at least onecysteine mutation selected from the group consisting of H16, A17, D62,G80, G166, S157, A181, I205, S210, D212, D213, D219, D222, D237, K238,D239, E265, K273, D290, D291, L296, D298, S322, I371, N372, K373, K374,S375, L377, E398, K399, F404, D420, L438, L443, A450, D464, D477 andR489 of SEQ ID NO:22.

In another embodiment, the mutant streptokinase comprises at least onecysteine mutation selected from the group consisting of G49, S57, A64,I88, S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120, K121, D122, E148, K156, D173,D174, L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255, K256, K257, S258, L260, E281,K282, F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347, D360, R372, H401, A402, D447and G465 of SEQ ID NO:23.

In another embodiment, the mutant streptokinase comprises at least onecysteine mutation selected from the group consisting of H16, A17, D62,G80, G166, S157, A181, I205, S210, D212, D213, D219, D222, D237, K238,D239, E265, K273, D290, D291, L296, D298, S322, I371, N372, K373, K374,S375, L377, E398, K399, F404, D420, L438, L443, A450, D464, D477, R489,H518, A519, D564 and G582 of SEQ ID NO:24.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinases further comprise an Nand/or C-terminus extension of amino acids.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinase can be used in conditionsassociated with thrombosis. For example, the mutant streptokinases canbe used to treat a disease or disorder selected from the group selectedfrom the group consisting of myocardial infarction, vascular thromboses,pulmonary embolism, stroke, a vascular event, angina, pulmonaryembolism, transient ischemic attack, deep vein thrombosis, thromboticre-occlusion subsequent to a coronary intervention procedure, peripheralvascular thrombosis, heart surgery, vascular surgery, heart failure,Syndrome X and a disorder in which a narrowing of at least one coronaryartery occurs.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinases further comprise acysteine-reactive moiety substituted on at least one of the cysteinemutants. In another embodiment the cysteine-reactive moiety ispolyethylene glycol (PEG). In another embodiment the PEG is a linear orbranch polymer of molecular size ranging from 5000 daltons-40,000daltons.

In another embodiment the mutant streptokinases comprising PEG haveincreased proteolytic stability, compared to an un-PEGylated mutantstreptokinase. In another embodiment, the mutant streptokinasescomprising PEG have decreased antigenicity and decreased in vivoimmunogenicity, compared to an un-PEGylated mutant streptokinase. Inanother embodiment the mutant streptokinases comprising PEG have slowrenal clearance and increased in vivo half life, compared to anun-PEGylated mutant streptokinase.

The present invention is based on the experimental findings thatcovalent attachment of one or more molecules of PEG to the strategicallysubstituted or added cysteine residues in the streptokinase results in abiologically active, PEGylated streptokinase with increased proteolyticstability and extended elimination half-life along with reducedclearance, and lesser immune reactivity when compared to nativestreptokinase. The site and size of PEG conjugation can be tailor-madewith the help of cysteine variants designed to be non-inhibitory tocatalytic function (plasminogen activation) in the streptokinase and itsactive variants, including clot-specific streptokinases (reference inthis context may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817 which describes thedesign and construction of clot-specific streptokinase variants withincreased fibrin affinity due to the addition of fibrin binding domainsto either, or both, ends of the SK protein). Substitution, addition orinsertion of one or more cysteine/s in the streptokinase andclot-specific streptokinase polypeptides makes it convenient to add PEGof different molecular masses to the desired location of the polypeptideprovided the substitutions and or additions are carried out in a“strategic” manner that cleanly avoids loss of functionalcharacteristics, and result in the generation of new beneficialproperties not present in the unmodified native protein. The choice ofPEG placement was designed on the basis of surface accessibility of theselected site and its structure-function relevance.

The PEGylated streptokinases of the present invention have greaterusefulness as therapeutics as well as greater convenience of usecompared to the native molecule(s) because while retaining native ornear-native like biological activity, they exhibit an extendedtime-action when compared to the former, which degrade rapidly in vitroin the presence of plasmin(ogen), as well as after injection as a resultof which these are cleared from the circulation in a very short time. Incontrast, the PEGylated streptokinases exhibit significantly enhancedproteolytic stability, are less immuno-reactive, and are cleared fromthe circulation in vivo only after markedly extended durations ascompared to the native (nonPEGylated) proteins.

Therefore, PEGylated streptokinases of the present invention are usefulto treat subjects with circulatory disorders such as venous or arterialthromboses, myocardial infarction etc, with the advantages being thatthe PEGylated streptokinases of the invention present the potential forincreased efficacy due to extended action and reduced immuno-reactivity,that allows the possibility of repeated administration due to theirminimal antigenicity. The number, size and location of PEG group/s canbe employed in such a way so as to redesign the Streptokinases topossess differential half-lives so to make their use conducive to therequirement of a particular disorder/clinical syndrome, or a particularsubject under treatment.

The present invention involves the selective modification ofstreptokinases for pharmaceutical use, to both enhance itspharmacokinetic properties and provide therapeutically usefulthrombolytics. This invention also include mutants of streptokinase itsnatural or artificial variants that retain desirable biologicalproperties of the native unmodified molecule. All variants of thisinvention may be prepared by expressing recombinant DNA sequencesencoding the desired variant in host cells, e.g. prokaryotic host cellssuch as E. coli, or eukaryotic host cells such as yeast or mammaliancells, using conventionally used methods and materials known in the art.DNA sequence information for encoded streptokinase from differentspecies may be obtained from published information. Polymorphism of thestreptokinase gene has been studied and their implications for thepathogenesis are explained (Malke H, 1993). A molecular epidemiologicalstudy has also been conducted to determine the distribution of thestreptokinase gene in group A streptococcal strains of different M typesand in other streptococcal species. Most of the strains examined in thisstudy show positive streptokinase activity by the casein-plasminogenoverlay assay. The overall results of these studies indicate that thereis considerable heterogeneity among the streptokinases obtained fromdifferent streptococcal species (Huang et. al; 1989). It is possible touse any of available streptokinase variant that has plasminogenactivation ability for cysteine mutagenesis and subsequent modificationswith sulfhydryl reactive agents.

The new DNA sequences encoding mutants and species variants can besimilarly cloned and expressed as in case of natural forms. Thestreptokinases produced by expression in the genetically engineered hostcells may then be purified, and if desired formulated intopharmaceutical compositions by conventional methods.

As a preferred aspect of this invention, the streptokinases expressed byrecombinant means are reacted with the desired thiol reactive agentsunder conditions that allow attachment of the thiol reactive moiety tothe sulfhydryl group of the introduced cysteine residues in thestreptokinases.

The term thiol reactive is defined herein as any compound having, orcapable of being activated to have, a reactive group capable of forminga covalent attachment to the sulfhydryl group (—SH) of the cysteineresidue. Included among such compounds are polymers such aspolypropylene glycol and PEG, carbohydrate based polymers and polymersof amino-acids and biotin derivatives. Compound need to be conjugatedcan be activated with a sulfhydryl moiety, such as sulfhydryl group,thiol, triflate, tresylate, aziridine or oxiran, or preferably,iodoacetamide or maleimide. The conjugating group may have variousmolecular weights but preferably between 5000 and 40,000 for the PEG.One of the important attributes of the present invention is to conferpositional selectivity of the PEGylation or other attachments whilepreserving the normal functional properties of the protein.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a mutant streptokinasepolypeptide having amino acid sequence selected from the groupconsisting of SEQ ID NO: 1-24, wherein at least one cysteine residue issubstituted or inserted. Table 34 shows residues that correspond toresidues of SEQ ID NO:1 that are likely intolerant to mutation orsubstitution.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mutant of streptokinaseprepared is a functional fragment of streptokinase having SEQ ID NO:2-6.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mutants of streptokinaseprepared are muteins of streptokinase having SEQ ID NO: 7-19.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mutant of streptokinaseprepared are species variants of streptokinase having SEQ ID NO: 20-21.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the species variants ofstreptokinase show 75%-100% amino acid sequence homology with the nativestreptokinase having SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another embodiment of the present invention, at least one cysteineresidue is substituted for at least one amino acid located in at leastone region of Streptokinase selected from the group consisting of: the48-64 loop, 88-97 loop, the region 103-106, or 119-124 or the helixforming region 196-207 or the loop forming region 170-181 or the loopforming region 254-264 or the coiled coil region 318-347 or the region360-372 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or its muteins or their functional fragments,wherein said variant has biological activity as measured by a standardassay.

As used herein, the term corresponding to is used to mean enumeratedpositions within the reference protein, e.g., wild-type Streptokinase(SK) or SEQ ID NO:1, and those positions in the queried protein (e.g. amutant SK) that align with the positions on the reference protein. Thus,when the amino acid sequence of a subject SK, e.g., SEQ ID NOs: 2, 3, 4,5, etc., is aligned with the amino acid sequence of a reference SK,e.g., SEQ ID NO:1, the amino acids in the subject SK sequence that“corresponds to” certain enumerated positions of the reference SKsequence are those that align with these positions of the reference SKsequence, but are not necessarily in these exact numerical positions ofthe reference SK sequence. For example, a Gly34Cys mutant in SEQ ID NO:4would “correspond to” a Gly49Cys mutant in SEQ ID NO:1.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention SEQ ID NO: 22-24 arecovalently modified hybrid polypeptide comprising of at least onefunctional fragment of streptokinase (SK) and fibrin binding domains 4and 5, fibrin binding domains (FBDs) 1 and 2 of human fibronectin.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the functionalfragment of SK and said fibrin binding domains are connected via aflexible connecting oligopeptide.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the mutant describedabove comprises an N and/or C-terminus extension of amino acids.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a cysteine residueis substituted for at least an amino acid selected from the groupconsisting of: G49, S57, A64, I88, S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120,K121, D122, E148, K156, D173, D174, L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255,K256, K257, S258, L260, E281, K282, F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347,D360, R372, wherein said variant has biological activity as measured bya standard assay.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a cysteine residueis substituted for at least an amino acid selected from the groupconsisting of: H16, A17, D62, G80, G166, S157, A181, I205, S210, D212,D213, D219, D222, D237, K238, D239, E265, K273, D290, D291, L296, D298,S322, I371, N372, K373, K374, S375, L377, E398, K399, F404, D420, L438,L443, A450, D464, D477, R489, of the SEQ ID NO. 22, wherein said varianthas biological activity as measured by a standard assay.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a cysteine residueis substituted for at least an amino acid selected from the groupconsisting of: G49, S57, A64, I88, S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120,K121, D122, E148, K156, D173, D174, L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255,K256, K257, S258, L260, E281, K282, F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347,D360, R372, H401, A402, D447, G465, of the SEQ ID NO. 23, wherein saidvariant has biological activity as measured by a standard assay.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a cysteine residueis substituted for at least an amino acid selected from the groupconsisting of: H16, A17, D62, G80, G166, S157, A181, I205, S210, D212,D213, D219, D222, D237, K238, D239, E265, K273, D290, D291, L296, D298,S322, I371, N372, K373, K374, S375, L377, E398, K399, F404, D420, L438,L443, A450, D464, D477, R489, H518, A519, D564, G582 of the SEQ ID NO.24 which has biological activity as measured by a standard assay.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the substitutedcysteine residue is modified with a cysteine-reactive moiety.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, substituted cysteineresidue is modified with polyethylene glycol.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the PEG moleculestated above is a linear or branch polymer of molecular size rangingfrom 5000 daltons-40,000 daltons.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the variantdescribed above has increased proteolytic stability as compared to theiroriginal unmodified counterparts.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the above describedvariant has decreased antigenicity and in vivo immunogenicity whencompared to their original unmodified counterparts.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the above describedvariant has slow renal clearance hence increased in vivo half life ascompared to their original unmodified counterparts.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the pharmaceuticalcomposition comprises at least one of the cysteine variants optionallyalong with pharmaceutically acceptable excipient(s).

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the pharmaceuticalcomposition is useful for treating disease or disorder selected from thegroup consisting of myocardial infarction, vascular thromboses,pulmonary embolism, stroke a vascular event, angina, pulmonary embolism,transient ischemic attack, deep vein thrombosis, thrombotic re-occlusionsubsequent to a coronary intervention procedure, peripheral vascularthrombosis, heart surgery or vascular surgery, heart failure, Syndrome Xand a disorder in which a narrowing of at least one coronary arteryoccurs.

Particularly the present invention features PEGylated cysteine variantsof streptokinase or its muteins, or of a hybrid plasminogen activatorcomprising a polypeptide bond union between streptokinase (SK), ormodified forms of SK, or suitable parts thereof, which are capable ofplasminogen (PG) activation, with fibrin binding regions of humanfibronectin selected from the fibrin binding domains of humanfibronectin (e.g. the pair of domains 4 and 5, or domains 1 and 2, ormodified forms thereof), so that the hybrid plasminogen activatorspossess the ability to bind with fibrin independently and thereby becomeclot specific due to their enhanced affinity for the substance of theblood clot, namely fibrin (U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817).

It provides mono- or bi- or multi-PEGylated Cysteine variant/s ofstreptokinase or its truncated forms that are not only active withrespect to PG activation capability, but exhibit a new and unexpectedfunctional attribute. For example, the bi-PEGylated cysteine variant ofSK where additional cysteines are placed at the two extremities of thepolypeptide i.e. at the N- and C-termini, exhibits an unexpectedproperty in respect to its human plasminogen activation characteristics,in that it has a markedly slower initial rate of activation ofplasminogen (PG) compared to unmodified SK, but becomes fully capable ofactivating plasminogen in a manner similar to that of unmodified SKafter an initial lag of several minutes' duration when assayed for PGactivation in vitro. The inability to be self-activated immediately (asis the case with native, unmodified SK which activates PG virtually uponcontact) is due to a plasmin-dependent mode of its action. In contrast,native SK does not require any plasmin to be activated, but is activatedvirtually as soon as it complexes with PG. Thus, after injection intothe body, such a SK variant will make its voyage through the vascularsystem while still in an inactive, or partially active, state. However,it will preferentially become activated in the immediate vicinity of theclot the moment it contacts the clot, which is known to be plasmin-richwhereas the general circulation is not (free plasmin being rapidlyinactivated in the ‘open’ circulation due to the presence ofplasmin-specific Serpins [serine protease inhibitors] such asalpha-2-antiplasmin and alpha-2-macroglobulin), thereby obviating orsignificantly minimizing the systemic PG activation coincident withnatural SK administration which immediately activates PG uponadministration with consequent side-effects such as hemorrhage and largescale destruction of various protein components of the vascular system.This property i.e. plasmin-dependant activation, along with the extendedelimination half-life, and low immunogenic and antigenic reactivitywould result in not only an overall diminished generation of freeplasmin in the general circulation but also the ability for thethrombolytic to be administered repeatedly for various circulatorymaladies in a relatively lower dose while avoiding unwanted immunereactions. The net result shall be a continued and more efficientfibrinolysis at the target sustained by considerably loweredtherapeutically effective dosages of the thrombolytic agent withminimized side-effects such as lowered immune reactivity, and mitigationof hemorrhagic complications often seen with normal SK.

The invention provides PEGylated cysteine variants of streptokinase orits muteins or of a hybrid plasminogen activator comprising apolypeptide bond union between streptokinase (SK), or modified forms ofSK, or suitable parts thereof that show an in vitro biological activitythat is comparable to that of native streptokinase as measured byplasminogen activation assays, the activity decrease if it occurs insome cases being well compensated by the derivative's extended half-lifeand/or lower clearance rates.

The invention provides PEGylated cysteine variant(s) of streptokinasethat show characteristics of plasminogen activation only after a lagperiod of more than 5 minutes after exposure of the plasminogenactivator to a suitable animal or human plasminogen.

The invention provides prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells, transformed ortransfected with expression vectors in which gene to expressstreptokinase its muteins or covalently modified forms are cloned, andcapable of expressing cysteine variants of streptokinase or its muteinsor the hybrid plasminogen activators. For efficient expression, the DNAsequences encoding the streptokinase its muteins and covalently modifiedforms were optimized for codon preferences of bacterial or yeast basedexpression hosts.

The invention details out a method for the production of PEGylatedcysteine variants of streptokinase or its active muteins or the hybridplasminogen activator molecules in pure and biologically active form forclinical and research applications.

The invention takes into account the PEGylation of those cysteinevariants that use template polynucleotide wherein the SK-encodingpolynucleotide utilized for expression of SK, is modified, bymutagenesis by known biochemical or chemical DNA synthesis techniques,or their combination such that the plasminogen activator activity isretained.

The invention takes into account cysteine variants of SK or itstruncated form/s that are PEGylated but also possess additional fibrinbinding domains fused through polypeptide linkages so that the resultantchimeras/fusion polypeptides besides showing plasminogen activationcapabilities, also show fibrin binding characteristics. The fusionsbetween the fibrin binding domains and SK can be direct, but may also bethrough short linker peptide region/s comprising of a stretch of aminoacid sequence that is not conformationally rigid but is flexible, suchas those predominantly composed of Gly, Ser, Asn, Gln and similar aminoacids.

The cysteine variants of SK or its muteins or covalently modified formsare expressed in E. coli using standard plasmids under the control ofstrong promoters, such as tac, trc, T7 RNA polymerase and the like,which also contain other well known features necessary to engender highlevel expression of the incorporated open reading frame that encodes forthe SK or its muteins or covalently modified SK constructs.

The cysteine variants of SK or its muteins or species variants orcovalently modified forms are expressed in yeast expression system usingstandard plasmids wherein the N-terminal signal peptide is optimized forefficient extracellular secretion of the mature polypeptide. Thesequence information for these signal peptides can be obtained from thesecretory proteins of yeast expression system. Additionally suchinformation can also be obtained from the other recombinant proteinsthat are hyper secreted and contain an optimized signal sequence.

The invention provides a method wherein the crude cell-lysates obtained,using either chemical, mechanical or enzymatic methods, from cellsharboring the single, double or triple cysteine variants of SK or SKchimeric polypeptides are subjected to air or thiol-disulfide reagentcatalytic oxidation, or enzyme catalyzed thiol-disulfide oxidativerefolding to refold to their biologically active conformationscontaining the native cysteine pairing (in covalently modified forms ofSK) while leaving the additional cysteine(s) free for sulfhydrylreactive chemical modifications.

The invention provides a method wherein the crude cell-lysates obtained,using either chemical, mechanical or enzymatic methods, from cellsharboring the single, double, triple or multiple cysteine variants ofcovalently modified forms of SK, are subjected to oxidation andrefolding using a mixture of reduced and oxidized glutathione, or othersuch reagents as are useful for such oxidative folding reactions throughthiol-disulfide interchange e.g. cysteine and cystine, of a suitableredox potential that allows the covalently modified forms of SK torefold to their biologically active conformations while leaving theadditional cysteine(s) free for sulihydryl reactive chemicalmodifications.

The cysteine variants of SK its muteins or covalently modified forms areexpressed in eukaryotic organisms such as yeasts or animal or plantcells using standard genetic methods either as incorporated geneticunits in the main genomes, or as autonomous genetic elements well knownin the field so as to obtain high level expression of the incorporatedopen reading frame/s that encode for the SK or its muteins or covalentlymodified SK constructs.

The invention provides a method wherein a PEGylated cysteine variant ofSK or SK chimeric plasminogen activator protein can be used as athrombolytic therapy or prophylaxis for various vascular thromboses. Theactivator may be formulated in accordance with routine procedures aspharmaceutical composition/s adapted for administration to human beings,and may include, but are not limited to, stabilizers such as human serumalbumin, mannitol etc, solubilizing agents, or anesthetic agents such aslignocaine and the like, as well as other agents or combinations thereofthat stabilize and/or facilitate delivery of the variants in vivo.

The invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising PEGylatedCysteine variants of SK or hybrid plasminogen activator and stabilizersthat include, but are not limited to, human serum albumin, mannitol etc,and solubilizing agents, anesthetic agents etc.

The present invention will be explained in more detail in the followingexamples that are, however, not intended to limit the scope of theinvention Taking cognizance of the present invention other variants,combinations and improvements will be obvious for the person skilled inthe art. Thus, similar work or its careful imitations are likely togenerate similar or improved features even in other variants ofstreptokinase that are not disclosed in this invention and belong todifferent isolates of human or non-human origin.

EXAMPLES General Methods Used in Examples

In general, the molecular methods and techniques well known in the areaof molecular biology and protein science were utilized. These arereadily available from several standard sources such as texts andprotocol manuals pertaining to this field of the art, for example,Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (II.sup.ndedition, Cold Sparing Harbor Press, New York, 1989; McPherson, M. J.,Quirke, P., and Taylor, G. R., [Ed.] PCR: A Practical Approach, IRLPress, Oxford, 1991, Current Protocols in Protein Science, published byJohn Wiley & sons, Inc. For immunological experiments text and protocolmanuals from Immunochemical Protocols, Hudson L, Hay F C (1989) 3rd ed.Blackwell Scientific was referred.

This however does not limits the detailed explanation in the context ofspecific experiments describing the present invention, particularlywhere modifications were introduced to established procedures, areindicated in the Examples whenever relevant.

Reagents

The cloning of SK gene was done in the T7 RNA polymerase promoter-basedexpression vector, pET-23d and was transformed in the Escherichia coliBL21 (DE3) strain procured from Novagen Inc. (Madison, Wis.).Thermostable DNA polymerase (Pfu), restriction endonucleases, T4 DNAligase and other DNA modifying enzymes were acquired from New EnglandBiolabs (Beverly, Mass.). Oligonucleotide primers were supplied by oneof these; Biobasic, Inc., Canada, Integrated DNA technologies, US, orSigma-Aldrich, US. Purifications of DNA and extraction of PCR amplifiedproducts from agarose gels were performed using kits available fromQiagen GmbH (Germany). Automated DNA sequencing using fluorescent dyeswas done on Applied Biosystems 3130×1 genetic analyzer 16 capillary DNAsequencer. Glu-plasminogen was either purchased from Roche DiagnosticsGmbH (Penzberg, Germany) or purified from human plasma by affinitychromatography (Deutsch and Mertz, 1970). The N-terminal amino acidsequencing was done with Applied Biosystems sequencer, Model 476A and491 clc. Urokinases, EACA, sodium cyanoborohydride, L-Lysine werepurchased from Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, USA. Phenyl Agarose 6XLand DEAE Sepharose (Fast Flow) were procured from Pharmacia Biotech,Uppsala, Sweden, while, Ni-NTA beads were from Qiagen. All otherreagents were of the highest analytical grade available.

Casein-plasminogen overlay for detection of SK activity: Activity ofdifferent SK derivatives were detected by overlay of casein and humanPlasminogen in soft agar. The original method of Malke and Ferretti,1984; was modified where purified SK (0.5 microgram) was directlyspotted on marked depressions on LB-Amp agar plates. The plate was thenincubated at 37° C. for 10 minutes; thereafter, casein-HPG-agarose wasoverlaid by gently pouring the mixture of solutions A and B on top ofthe plate containing the spots. Solution A was prepared by heating 1 gof skim milk in 15 ml of 50 mM Tris, Cl (pH 7.5), after which it wasmaintained at 37° C. in a water-bath till further use. Solution B wasprepared by heating 0.38 g of agarose in 15 ml of 50 mM Tris. Cl (pH7.5) at 50° C. After tempering the solution to 37° C., 3 μl ofTritonX-100 (0.04% v/v) and 200 μg HPG was added. The plate was thenincubated at 37° C. and observed for the generation of zones ofclearance (halo formation) due to casein hydrolysis, following HPGactivation.

For proteolytic stability, each PEGylated derivative and the native SKwas incubated with proteolytic enzymes such as trypsin or plasmin.Protease concentrations used in the reaction were varied from 500-10,000fold of the protein concentration. The reactions were kept under shakingcondition at 25° C. for two to four hours. Same amount of trypsinizedprotein for both test and control were spotted on the LB-Amp agar platesand the residual activity was measured after Casein-plasminogen overlayof the plates.

SDS-PAGE analysis of proteins: SDS-PAGE is carried out, essentiallyaccording to Laemmli, U. K., 1970, with minor modifications, as needed.Briefly, protein samples are prepared by mixing with an equal volume ofthe 2.times.sample buffer (0.1 M Tris Cl, pH 6.8; 6% SDS; 30% glycerol;15% beta-mercaptoethanol and 0.01% Bromophenol Blue dye). Fornon-reducing SDS-PAGE beta-mercaptoethanol was not included in thesample buffer. Prior to loading onto the gel, the samples are heated ina boiling water bath for 5 min. The discontinuous gel system usually has5% (acrylamide concentration) in the stacking and 10% in the resolvinggel. Electrophoresis is carried out using Laemmli buffer at a constantcurrent of 15 mA first, till the samples stack and then 30 mA till thecompletion. On completion of electrophoresis, gel is immersed in 0.1%Coomasie Blue R250 in methanol:acetic acid:water (4:1:5) with gentleshaking and is then destained in destaining solution (20% methanol and10% glacial acetic acid) till the background becomes clear.

PEGylated proteins can be additionally stained with iodine through astandard method developed by Kurfurst (Kurfurst M M., 1992) thatspecifically stains the PEG molecules. For iodine staining of purifiedPEG variants, briefly after electrophoresis the gel was soaked in a 5%glutaraldehyde (Merck) solution for 15 min at room temperature forfixation. Afterward the gel was stained for PEG as follows. First, thegel was put in 20 ml of perchloric acid (0.1M) for 15 min, and then 5 mlof a 5% barium chloride solution and 2 ml of a 0.1 M iodine solution(Merck, Titrisol 9910) were added. The stained PEGylated protein bandsappeared within a few minutes. For dual staining of SDS PAGE the iodinestained gels were further stained by Coomasie Blue 8250 using theprotocol of Laemmli as described in [0044].

Kinetic assays (Shi et. al., 1994, Wu et. al., 1987, Wohl et. al., 1980)were used for determining the HPG activation by PEG modified orunmodified SK or its covalent variants especially when kinetic constantswere needed to be determined. Varying concentrations of either PEGmodified or unmodified SK or its covalently modified forms (10 nM-200nM) were added to a final volume of 100 microliter in multi-well platecontaining 1-2 uM of HPG in assay buffer (50 mM Tris-Cl buffer, pH 7.5,containing 0.5-1 mM chromogenic substrate and 0.1 M NaCl). Thechromogenic substrate used (S-2251, Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Germany) wasplasmin specific and gives yellow color product upon cleavage that canbe monitored at 405 nm. The protein aliquots were added after additionof all other components into the well and taking the firstspectrophotometric absorbance zero. The change in absorbance at 405 nmwas then measured as a function of time in a Versa-Max tunablemicroplate reader from Molecular Devices USA. Appropriate dilutions ofS. equisimilis streptokinase obtained from WHO, Hertfordshire, U.K. isused as a reference standard for calibration of international units inthe unknown preparation.

Assay for determining the steady-state kinetic constants for HPGactivator activity of PEG modified or unmodified SK and its covalentlymodified forms.

To determine the kinetic parameters for HPG activation, fixed amounts ofPEG modified or unmodified SK or its covalently modified forms (0.05-0.1nanomolar) were added to the assay buffer containing variousconcentrations of HPG (ranging from 0.035 to 2.0 micromolar) in themulti-well plate as described above. The change in absorbance was thenmeasured spectrophotometrically at 405 nm for a period of 10-40 min at25 C. The kinetic parameters for HPG activation were then calculatedfrom inverse, Michaelis-Menton, plots by standard methods (Wohl et. al.,1980).

Various PEGylated SK or its muteins and the native SK wasradio-iodinated with Iodine-125 (I125) procured from PerkinElmerSingapore Pte Ltd. Using the Iodogen(1,3,4,6-Tetrachloro-3α-6α-diphenylglucoluril) method (Fraker & Speck,1978). According to the method used by Fraker and Speck, the Iodogen isdissolved in chloroform and coated onto the wall of a borosilicate glasstube by evaporating the solvent with spray of nitrogen gas. Foriodination, protein solution in Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) is addedto the Todogen coated tube and mixed with I125. After approximately10-30 min, the radio-iodinated protein is separated from freeradio-iodine by desalting on a Sephadex G 25 fine matrix containingcolumn (Amersham Biosciences).

Genetic Constructs

Construction of Streptokinases

The design and construction of the pET vector containing the SK gene(pET-23d-SK) has been described in Nihalani et al., (1998). It involvedthe cloning of the SK gene from Streptococcus equisimilis H46A in pBR322 (Pratap et al., 1996), followed by subcloning into pET-23d, anexpression vector containing a highly efficient ribosome binding sitefrom the phage T7 major capsid protein (Studier and Moffatt, 1986) andfurther modification of the 5′ end of the gene to minimize thepropensity for formation of secondary structure. It had an in-framejuxtaposition of an initiation codon for Met at the beginning of theopen reading frame encoding SK so as to express the protein as Met-SK.For details reference can be made to Sahni et. al; 2007 (U.S. Pat. No.7,163,817).

SK muteins were also designed using the refurbished template as in caseof SK so to get high intra-cellular expression capability. The circularmap of pET-23d-SK has been depicted in FIG. 2. The scheme to maketruncated derivatives of SK is otherwise explained in detail by Nihalaniet al., 1998. Apart from gene sequencing, the authenticity of SK and itstruncated derivatives were also established by gas phase N-terminalamino acid sequencing of proteins on an Applied Biosystems-Perkin Elmerprotein sequencer model 476A or 491 clc.

Construction of covalently modified forms of SK by making a hybrid DNApolynucleotide between SK-encoding DNA and fibrin binding domains ofhuman fibronectin and its cloning and expression in E. coli areexplained in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817. Briefly the fibrinbinding domains are fused to streptokinase at N-terminus or atC-terminus or both at N and C-terminus to generate various covalentlymodified forms of streptokinase.

Example 1 Selection of Residues or the Regions of Protein for GeneratingCysteine Mutants of Streptokinase

Residue selection for substitution or deletion is crucial to maintainthe functionality of modified polypeptides. Therefore, cysteinemutagenesis plan requires both structural information present in crystalstructure and the functional insights obtained through solution studies.Extensive structure and function studies over the years has gatheredtomes of information about the role of different regions ofstreptokinase in plasminogen activation. To decide upon the residues orthe region where the naturally present amino-acid can be preferablysubstituted with the cysteine, we utilized information present in threedimensional structure of SK or its isolated domain along with theirfunctional relevance. The selection of residues for cysteine mutagenesiswas partly based on the determination of the surface accessibility ofthe residues. Site of cysteine insertion was also limited to flexibleregions of the streptokinase. To determine the surface exposure DSSPprogram was used. The DSSP code is frequently used to describe theprotein secondary structures with a single letter code. DSSP is anacronym for “Dictionary of Protein Secondary Structure”, The DSSP(Kabsch and Sander, 1983) program defines secondary structure,geometrical features and solvent exposure of proteins, given atomiccoordinates in Protein Data Bank format. DSSP states each residue'sexposure in terms of square .ANG.ngstroms. Run of the DSSP program on agiven PDB file produce abbreviated DSSP format output. One can get thevalue of surface accessibility under the heading Acc in the DSSP formatoutput. To determine the surface exposure, solved crystal structure ofstreptokinase (Wang et. al. 1998, PDB ID 1BML) in complex ofmicroplasmin was used. For the regions that were missing in thisstructure (175-181 and 252-262) crystal structure of the isolated betadomain (Wang et. al., 1999, PDB ID 1c4p) was used for determination ofsurface exposure. Some of the loops missing in the crystal structurewere grafted in the experimentally obtained structure and there mostpreferred conformation was determined through molecular modeling tools.Residues not necessarily detected in the structure but are defined ashighly accessible as they reside in the flexible region were also chosenfor cysteine mutagenesis. Table 1 shows the surface accessibility valuesfor different cysteine variants of SK (SEQ ID NO: 1) that weresubstituted with cysteine. The list however, does not limit the scope ofcysteine substitution for the other naturally present amino-acids of SK.The accessibility values calculated by the program DSSP were directlytaken as the measure of surface exposure. The DSSP program listed manysurface exposed residues. But a careful selection was done whiledeciding the residues for cysteine substitution. This exercise includedmutations evenly spread all along the three different domains i.e.alpha, beta and gamma of streptokinase. Mutations were also selectedthat fall in the secondary structural regions. Selection also includedcysteine replacement of few residues that show exceptionally low surfaceaccessibility just to ensure the fact that in principal each and everyresidue of the streptokinase can be replaced with cysteine andsuccessfully modified with the thiol reactive reagents.

Despite of nucleotide and polypeptide sequence diversity, there exists astrong structural similarity among different bacterial plasminogenactivators. The one-domain staphylokinase bears structural homology withthe alpha domain of streptokinase. Also the two-domain bovineplasminogen activator obtained from Streptococcus uberis showsstructural similarity with alpha and beta domains of streptokinase.Evolutionary conservation of protein three dimensional structure amongdifferent bacterial plasminogen activators makes it feasible to plancysteine modifications of other streptokinase variants that are isolatedfrom different bacterial species.

Example 2 Genetic Construction of Cysteine Variants of Streptokinases

All the genetic constructs to express streptokinases were generallyconstructed by using conventional approaches known in the art. Themethods of DNA manipulation to incorporate mutations are described, forexample, in TCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications', editedby Innis, M. A. et al. 1990., Academic Press Inc., San Diego, Calif. andTCR Protocols: Current Methods and Applications' edited by B. A. White,1993., Humana Press, Inc., Totowa, N.J., USA. Bacterial and Yeastexpression cassettes were made by inserting the DNA molecule encodingthe desired streptokinases into a suitable vector (or inserting theparent template DNA into the vector and mutagenizing the sequence asdesired therein), then transforming the host cells with the expressioncassette using conventional methods known in the art. Specific mutationswere introduced into the desired constructs using a variety ofprocedures such as PCR mutagenesis techniques (Innis et. al., 1990),mutagenesis kits such as those sold by Stratagene (“Quick-ChangeMutagenesis” kit, San Diego, Calif.) or Promega (Gene Editor Kit,Madison Wis.). In general, oligonucleotides were designed to incorporatenucleotide changes to the coding sequence of Streptokinases that resultin substitution, deletion or addition of desired residue for thenaturally present residue. Mutagenic primers were also designed to addthe cysteine at the beginning of the mature protein, i.e. proximal tothe N-terminal amino-acid or following the last amino acid in the matureprotein, i.e. after the C-terminal amino-acid of the Streptokinase andits truncated constructs. Similar strategy was used for insertion ofcysteine residues between any two selected amino-acids of theStreptokinase or any of its form represented by SEQ IDs present in Table2. Using the standard methods, corresponding cysteine containing mutantswere generated on various forms of SK. The transformed clones fordifferent mutants were then screened and confirmed by automated DNAsequencing using fluorescent dyes on an Applied Biosystems 3130×1genetic analyzer 16 capillary DNA sequencer.

Table two lists different polypeptide constructs expressing one of thefollowings: streptokinase; its muteins; species variants; or covalentlymodified forms. The native full length polypeptide sequence ofstreptokinase has been assigned SEQ ID NO: 1. The truncated form of SKwhere C-terminal 31 residues are deleted is depicted by SEQ ID NO: 2.The truncated form of SK where N-terminal 15 residues are deleted isrepresented by SEQ ID NO: 3. Polypeptide that contains deletion of bothN-terminal 15 residues and C-terminal 31 residues of SK is given SEQ IDNO: 4. Functional fragment of SK where the N-terminal 49 residues aredeleted has been assigned SEQ ID NO: 5. Streptokinase construct in whichboth N-terminal 59 and C-terminal 31 residues are deleted has been givenSEQ ID NO: 6. Full length polypeptide of SK (residues 1-414) thatcontains alanine substitution for Asparagine 90 in the alpha domain isrepresented by SEQ ID NO: 7. Beta domain mutant polypeptide of fulllength SK that has substitution of Tyrosine in place of Alanine has beengiven SEQ ID NO: 8. Similarly SEQ ID NO: 9 represents beta domain mutantof SK where Aspartate residue at 238th position is substituted withAlanine. SEQ ID NO: 10 is assigned to beta domain mutant ofstreptokinase where Glutamate at 240th position is substituted withAlanine. SEQ ID NO: 11 and SEQ ID NO: 12 represent Arginine to Alanine,and Lysine to Alanine mutation at 244th and 246th residues respectively,in full length SK. The 250 loop mutant of beta domain of SK whereLeucine residue at 260th position is substituted with Alanine is givenSEQ ID NO: 13. The gamma domain mutant of SK where Aspartate residue at359th position is substituted with Arginine is represented by SEQ ID NO:14. The double mutant of SK where both Histidine 92 and Serine 93 aresubstituted with Alanine is represented by SEQ ID NO: 15. Another doublemutant of SK, where two consecutive Lysine residues at 278th and 279thposition were substituted by Alanine is represented by SEQ ID NO: 16.The mutants of SK where Asparagine at 90th position in alpha domain,Aspartate at 227th position in beta domain or Aspartate at 359thposition of gamma domain have been deleted are given SEQ ID NO: 17, SEQID NO: 18 and SEQ ID NO: 19 respectively. Matured and active forms of SKare available from a number of species and subspecies variants of thegenus Streptococcus. To validate the feasibility of cysteine mutagenesisand subsequent PEGylation across the different forms of SK, we alsoselected variants of SK derived from Streptococcus species, namelypyogenes and dysgalactiae. The SK species variant derived fromStreptococcus pyogenes is given SEQ ID NO: 20 and the one obtained fromStreptococcus dysgalactiae is given SEQ ID NO: 21. The covalentlymodified form of SK where fibrin binding domains are present at theN-terminus of SK is given SEQ ID NO: 22. The C-terminus fibrin bindingdomain fusion product of SK has been assigned SEQ ID NO 23. Hybridpolypeptide that contain fibrin binding domain both at N and C-terminusof SK is given SEQ ID NO: 24. Genetic constructions of fibrin domainfused forms of SK are detailed out in U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817. Differentpolypeptides that include native full length SK, its muteins, speciesvariants and the covalently modified forms were further used forgeneration of cysteine variants.

Cysteine variants generated on different forms of SK mentioned in TABLE2 have been assigned unique SEQ IDs. Table 3 to 28 lists individualvariants along with their unique SEQ IDs.

Table 3: variants those were designed on native full length SK (SEQ IDNO: 1)

Table 4: variants those were designed on truncated SK 1-383 (SEQ ID NO:2)

Table 5: variants those were designed on truncated SK 16-414 (SEQ ID NO:3)

Table 6: variants those were designed on truncated SK 16-383 (SEQ ID NO:4)

Table: 7: variants those were designed on truncated SK 50-414 (SEQ IDNO: 5)

Table 8: variants those were designed on truncated SK 60-383 (SEQ ID NO:6)

Table 9: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 7)

Table 10: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 8)

Table 11: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 9)

Table 12: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 10)

Table 13: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 11)

Table 14: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 12)

Table 15: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 13)

Table 16: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 14)

Table 17: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 15)

Table 18: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 16)

Table 19: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 17)

Table 20: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 18)

Table 21: variants those were designed on mutant SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO: 19)

Table 22: Cysteine variants of Streptococcus pyogenes MGAS10270 (SEQ IDNO: 20)

Table 23: Cysteine variants of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp.equisimilis (SEQ ID NO: 21)

Table: 24: Cysteine variants of SK with N-terminal fused fibrin bindingdomain (SEQ ID NO: 22)

Table 25: Cysteine variants of SK with C-terminal fused fibrin bindingdomain (SEQ ID NO: 23)

Table 26: Cysteine variants of SK with both N and C-terminal fusedfibrin binding domains (SEQ ID NO: 24)

Table 27: Cysteine insertion mutants of SK

Table 28: variants of SK where cysteine is placed at the N or C-terminiwith or without a peptide extension.

These examples demonstrate that one can generate cysteine variants onvirtually all forms of SK such as native full length, truncated, N or Cterminally extended or in fusion with other polypeptide sequence. Wealso generated cysteine variants of substitution, insertion or deletionmutants of SK. This validates the applicability of this invention to anyform of SK for cysteine mutagenesis and subsequent modification withthiol reactive agents.

The constructs obtained from Example 2 were utilized in all furtherexperiments conducted to arrive at the present invention. However, itshould be understood that the list of cysteine variants ofstreptokinases are merely exemplary and not exclusive. The design andsynthesis of alternative and additional cysteine variants ofstreptokinases in accordance with this invention are well within thepresent skill in the art. Synthesis of such variants may be convenientlyeffected using conventional techniques and methods.

Example 3 Over-Expression and Purification of Biologically ActiveStreptokinases

The native streptokinase protein (nSK), its mutants and their subsequentCysteinyl mutants to be purified were each grown from single colony,streaked on LB-Amp plate from their BL21 (DE3) glycerol stocks. Theprimary cultures were developed by inoculating pET-23d-SK or SK variantsinto 10 ml of LB medium containing 100 microgram/mL ampicillin (LB-Ampmedium) and incubated for 8-16 hours at 30-37 C, under shakingconditions (180-280 rpm). This pre-inoculum was used to seed 500 ml ofLB-Amp medium at 2-10% v/v and allowed to grow at 30-37 C., at 180-280rpm to an O.D600 nm (optical density measured at 600 nano-meter) of0.5-1.0. At this stage, it was induced with IPTG (final concentration of0.5-1.0 millimol) (Chaudhary et al., 1999; Dhar et al., 2002) andfurther grown at 40 C, for 6-12 hours under shaking condition. Cellswere then harvested by centrifugation at 6000-7000 g for 10 min. Thepellet was then washed twice with ice-cold buffer (finalconcentrations-100-150 mM NaCl, 10-50 mM Tris-Cl, pH 8.0, and 1-5 mMEDTA) and subjected to sonication (Heat System, New York) at 4 C, underconditions of 30 sec sonic-pulses interspersed with equal periods ofrest. The cell lysate was then centrifuged at high rpm (10000-14000 g)for 15 min. The SDS-PAGE analysis show that more than 90% desiredprotein had gone to the Inclusion Bodies (IBs). The IBs were thensolubilised in 8 Molar urea at room temperature for 45 min underconstant gentle shaking condition. The protein in supernatant was foldedafter 10-fold dilution (Sundram et al., 2003) in the loading buffer (0.4M NaCl in 20 mM PB). The sample was then chromatographed on PhenylAgarose 6XL beads and eluted in water. The protein so obtained was thensubjected to further purification by anion-exchange chromatography on aDEAE-Sepharose column (GE-Amersham Biosciences). Protein fractions afterHIC were pooled and Tris. Cl pH 7.5 was added to a final concentrationof 20 mM Tris. Cl, after which it was loaded onto a column packed withDEAE-Sepharose (Fast Flow) pre-equilibrated with 20 mM Tris. Cl (pH7.5). After washes with buffer containing 20 mM Tris. Cl (pH 7.5), thebound protein was eluted using a linear gradient of salt (0-0.5 M NaCl)in 20-25 mM Tris. Cl. SK proteins eluted were generally more than 95%pure, as analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The amount of protein in each fractionwas measured using Bradford's method of protein estimation (Bradford.,1976) and confirmed by Absorption at 280 nm. All chromatographic stepswere conducted at 4.degree. C. The fractions containing protein wereanalyzed on SDS-PAGE along with standard SK and Molecular mass markers.Desired fractions were pooled conservatively to obtain the homogenouspreparation of SK or SK mutants.

Over expression and purification of various covalently modifiedconstructs formed by SK and Fibrin Binding Domains (FBDs) in E. coli andtheir in vitro refolding are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817wherein the expressed proteins were subjected to in vitro refolding andpurified by column chromatography. Briefly, the solubilized inclusionbodies were diluted to a final protein concentration of 1 mg/ml usingdistilled water; together with the addition of the following additionalcomponents (final concentrations in the diluted mix are given): Tris-Cl,pH 8.0, 50 mM; NaCl 100-150 mM; EDTA 1-5 mM; mixture of reduced andoxidized glutathione 1.25 mM:0.5 mM. The refolded population wasseparated and purified on a column packed with fibrin-sepharose beads.For detailed description of the refolding, purification andcharacterization of the refolded protein please refer to Sahni et. al;2007 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,817).

Example 4 Covalent Conjugation of Cysteine Variants of Streptokinaseswith Polyethylene Glycol

The thiol groups of the cysteine variants of streptokinases wereselectively PEGylated using maleimide-activated linear methoxy PEG ofdifferent sizes such as 5 KDa, 20 KDa and 40 KDa (JenKem Technology,USA). For the PEGylation reaction the polypeptide to be PEGylated waskept in 50-100 mM Tris-Cl buffer pH 8.0 containing 100-150 mM of NaCl.To this, 5 molar excess of PEG reagent was added. The molar excess wascalculated while taking into consideration the number of free thiols tobe reacted with PEG reagent and not merely the protein's molarity. Thereaction mix was allowed to stir at room temperature for 1.5-4 hours,and then the reaction was stopped by adding 1 mM of DTT. PEGylatedprotein from the free PEG and the unreacted SK was purified by anionexchange chromatography on a DEAE sepharose column (GE-AmershamBiosciences). The reaction mixture was diluted 10-15 fold with 25 mMSodium Phosphate buffer of pH 7.4 after which it was loaded onto acolumn packed with DEAE-Sepharose (Fast Flow) pre-equilibrated with thesame buffer. After washes with buffer containing 25 mM Sodium Phosphate,the bound protein was eluted using a linear gradient of salt (0-0.5 MNaCl) in 25 mM Sodium Phosphate. Alternatively, if some of the PEGylatedderivatives failed to separate from unreacted PEG cleanly byion-exchange, these reactions were subjected to size-exclusionchromatography on Sephadex 75 (Amersham Biosciences) using a buffer ofneutral pH and final NaCl concentration of 100-150 mM. Also, in somecases, where purified cysteinylated protein samples that showeddisulfide bonded dimers were first reduced by addition of 10 mM DTT. TheDTT treated samples were desalted on a column packed with Sephadex G-25(fine) beads, and immediately used for PEG conjugation. The homodimericforms of SK due to intermolecular disulfide linkage can also beseparated using size-exclusion chromatography on Sephadex 75 and may beuseful over monomeric streptokinase for therapeutic uses due to itslarge size and slow clearance.

PEG cross-linking in all cases was confirmed by SDS PAGE. Gelelectrophoresis showed >95% of the PEGylated protein in the fractionsthat were obtained after removal of the unreacted protein and the freePEG reagent. FIG. 1 shows few mono and bi-PEGylated variants of SK.Panel A shows one of the representative (D95C, SEQ ID NO: 30) PEGylatedcysteine variant of the alpha domain of streptokinase where naturallypresent aspartate residue has been replaced with cysteine and conjugatedwith methoxy PEG maleimide of molecular mass 20 KDa. Panel B depicts oneof the representative (S258C, SEQ ID NO: 49) PEGylated cysteine variantof the beta domain of streptokinase where naturally present serineresidue in the 250 loop of beta domain has been replaced with cysteineand conjugated with methoxy PEG maleimide of molecular mass 20 KDa.Panel C shows one of the representative (C-Cys, SEQ ID NO: 490)PEGylated cysteine variant of the gamma domain of streptokinase whereone cysteine has been placed at the C-terminus of the SK and conjugatedwith methoxy PEG maleimide of molecular mass 20 KDa. Panel D shows oneof the bi-PEGylated cysteine variant of SK (SEQ ID NO: 493) where onecysteine is placed each at the N-terminus and C-terminus of the moleculeand conjugated with methoxy PEG maleimide of molecular mass 20 KDa.Conjugation of PEG at the two extremes of SK was carried out with thepremise that two bulky PEG groups will enclose the protein in a flexiblecocoon and extend its in vivo survival for prolong period. At the sametime extensive masking of the immuno-dominant regions may attract anegligible immuno-reactivity of the injected molecule in a subject.Fractions containing PEGylated protein were pooled and formulated foractivity assays, and in some instances were further characterized byMALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The mass spectrometry also confirmed theexpected molecular mass of PEG adduct of streptokinase and itscovalently modified forms.

Example 5 Casein-Plasminogen Overlay for Rapid Detection of PlasminogenActivation Ability

Activity of different cysteine variants of SK and SK chimeras weredetected by overlay of casein and HPG in soft agar. The original methodof Malke and Ferretti, 1984 was modified where purified SK (0.1-0.5microgram) was directly spotted on marked depressions on LB-Amp agarplates. The plate was then incubated at 37.degree. C. for 10 minutes;thereafter, casein-HPG-agarose was overlaid by gently pouring themixture of solutions A and B on top of the plate containing the spots.Solution A was prepared by heating 1 g of skim milk in 15 ml of 50 mMTris, Cl (pH 7.5), after which it was maintained at 37.degree. C. in awater-bath till further use. Solution B was prepared by heating 0.38 gof agarose in 15 ml of 50 mM Tris. Cl (pH 7.5) at 50.degree. C. Aftertempering the solution to 37.degree. C., 3.mu.l of TritonX-100 (0.04%v/v) and 100-200 .mu.g HPG was added and gently mixed without frothing.The plate was then incubated at 37.degree. C. for 1-4 hrs and observedfor the generation of zones of clearance (halo formation) due to caseinhydrolysis, following HPG activation. The area of the lysis zone (halo)surrounding the well into the agarose medium was taken intoconsideration for comparing the plasminogen activation ability for thestreptokinase and its covalently modified variants. All cysteinevariants of streptokinases retained substantial plasminogen activationability as examined by Casein-HPG overlay assay. Cysteine variants ofstreptokinases were further taken for PEG conjugation with thiolreactive PEG of different molecular weights ranging from 5000 Dalton to40,000 Dalton and their activity was determined using Casein-HPG overlayassay with activity of PEG conjugated with the justification that a lossin plasminogen activity ability All PEG modified variants ofstreptokinases showed substantial plasminogen activation ability undercaseinolytic assay and are therapeutically useful. However, a desiredcombination of suitable half-life that is clinically required along withreduced immune reactivity, make some derivatives more useful overothers.

Comparatively reduced activity in some cases may well be compensated byincreased proteolytic stability and in vivo half-life of the PEG-proteinadducts.

Alternatively, the plasminogen activation ability were also measured asexplained previously. Table 29 shows the HPG activator activity and thekinetic constants for a few representative PEGylated SK variants. Table30 summarizes the range of activity for the different PEGylated variantsof covalently modified streptokinases that contain fibrin domain fusion.

The activity measurement for truncated form of SK (50-414 and 60-383)and their PEGylated variants required supplementation of syntheticpeptides 1-49 for optimal amidolytic and plasminogen activationcapabilities. It has been documented in the literature that truncatedvariants of SK that are devoid of N-terminal peptide corresponding to1-59 region are poor plasminogen activators and show increased activityupon supplementation of either SK 1-59 peptide or fibrin in the reactionmixture for optimal amidolytic and plasminogen activation capabilities(Nihalani et. al., 1998 and Sazonova et. al., 2004). PEGylatedderivatives of SK that does not contain 1-49 or shorter N-terminalpeptides show fibrin dependence for plasminogen activation hence; theiractions are restricted to clot mainly making them clot-specific.

Example 6 Proteolytic Stability of PEGylated Cysteine Variants ofStreptokinases

For proteolytic stability, 50 microgram of each PEGylated derivative andthe native SK, as control, was incubated with 50 microliters of 50 mMTris-Cl and 100 mM NaCl. To this, trypsin was added to give a finalratio of PEGylated Protein:Trypsin of 1000:1 (w/w). The reaction waskept under shaking condition at 25° C. for two to four hours. Equalaliquots of trypsinized protein was spotted on the LB-Amp agar platesand the residual activity was measured in a similar way as explained inEXAMPLE 5 for detection of SK activity. Equal aliquots were also spottedfrom the control reactions where only trypsin was added in the reactionor only SK or SK hybrids were added in the reaction. In this case alsothe zone of lysis on agarose overlay was measured for each of thetrypsinized PEGylated streptokinase or its covalently modified variants.The area of zone of lysis becomes a direct measure of the residualplasminogen activation ability for the protected streptokinase or itsvariants. This assay showed significant protection for the different SKvariants under this study when they were conjugated with single, doubleor triple PEG moieties and incubated with trypsin or plasmin. We found amultiplied increase in proteolytic stability with attachment of morethan one PEG group to the SK variants.

Alternatively, the residual activity measurements were also confirmedfor trypsinized PEGylated streptokinase or its covalently modifiedvariants by testing their Plasminogen activation capability using theone-stage assay described earlier using chromogenic substratespectrophotometrically [0046]. The trypsinized SK and PEGylated SKvariants at varying concentrations (1-10 nM) were added to a finalvolume of 100 microliters in a multi-well plate containing 1-2 uM of HPGin assay buffer (50 mM Tris-Cl buffer, pH 7.5, containing 0.5-1 mMchromogenic substrate and 0.1 M NaCl). The protein aliquots were addedafter addition of all other components into the well. The change inabsorbance at 405 nm was then measured as a function of time in aVersa-Max model tunable microplate reader from Molecular Devices Inc.,USA. Results obtained through this method were in consonance with thoseobtained through caseinolytic assay. It was found that significantfunctional activity retained in all the PEGylated forms of streptokinaseand its covalently modified form when incubated with trypsin. Theunpegylated streptokinases when subjected to similar conditions showbarely detectable activity and are prone to trypsin digestion.

Samples subjected to trypsinization were also examined on reducingSDS-PAGE to physically observe the proteolytic stability, and thegeneration of truncated fragments as a result of the proteolysis. Thisgave a qualitative assessment of protected protein subjected totrypsinization. For this, aliquots were taken at differenttime-intervals from the reaction mixture and inhibited by the additionof 20 molar excess of Soybean Trypsin Inhibitor (GE-AmershamBiosciences) to stop any further tryptic activity. Samples collected atdifferent time points (5-180 min) were electrophoresed on 10% SDS-PAGEand analyzed for the protected intact protein. Results obtained fromthis exercise also substantiated our functional examination of thetrypsinized proteins. More residual plasminogen activation ability underassay conditions also reflected in more protection of the protein whenexamined for physical intactness on the SDS-PAGE.

Example 7 N and C-Terminally Extended SK Variants and their PEG ModifiedForms

In order to establish that an arbitrary extension of few amino-acidsboth at N or C-terminus of streptokinase or its variants will invariablyproduce the same result as that obtained with their unextendedcounterpart, the SK or its cysteine variants were modified either atN-terminus or C-terminus with small amino-acid extensions.

N-terminal extended forms were made using two different strategiesgiving a polypeptide of two different lengths viz. one with 6 amino-acidextension and another other with a 20 amino-acid extension. Using theoverlap extension strategy 18 nucleotide extension coding for 6histidine residues were placed before the N-terminal amino-acid of themature streptokinase. The product of this modification was aN-terminally extended protein with additional six amino-acids. Toincorporate the 20 amino-acid extensions the cassettes encoding the SKor its variants were transformed from pET 23d to pET 15b (Cat. No.69661-3, Novagen, Inc. US). Placing the cassette into the pET 15 b gavean N-terminal extension of 20 amino-acids that include a stretch of sixhistidine residues and a thrombin cleavage site. The cleavage ofN-terminal extension from the polypeptide can be effected with thrombin.This removes the stretch of Histidine tag and yields a processedpolypeptide with amino-acid sequence of SK only. SEQ ID NO 496 shows theamino-acid sequence of SK that was obtained due to the cloning in pET15b.

To generate the C-terminal extended product, a stretch of six histidineresidues was added just after the last amino-acid of SK or its variantsusing the overlap extension strategy. This resulted in placement ofadditional six residues at the C-terminus. The proteins were purifiedeither using the metal affinity chromatography or the purificationmethods explained in Example 2 to obtain a homogeneously purifiedproduct. Subsequently these purified N or C-terminally extended productsof SK or its variants were modified with PEG using the chemistryexplained in Example 4. Biochemical characterization for functionalactivity and the proteolytic stability yielded similar result as thoseobtained with their unextended counterparts. This gave a strong evidencefor the conclusion that other N or C-terminus extended products of SK orits variants would yield similar results. A skilled artisan can think ofinnumerous possibilities of extending both N and C-terminus of SK or itsvariants to yield functional forms of streptokinase that can be used forcysteine substitution, insertion or addition and their subsequent thiolmodifications with PEG or other sulfhydryl reactive agents.

Example 8 Assigning New Functional Attributes to the SK Variants wherePEG Groups are Attached at the Two Termini i.e. N and C-Terminus of SKor its Truncated Variants

It was observed that addition of PEG groups simultaneously at both N andC termini of streptokinase and any of its truncated functional variantsunder study makes its activity dependent on presence of plasmin. Thisnew functional attribute was assigned when we observed that bi-PEGylatedSK variant shows a lag (see FIG. 3) of several minutes in theplasminogen activation profile. To our surprise, when the bi-PEGylatedSK variant was examined for plasminogen activation after it is complexedwith plasmin, it showed normal (i.e. native SK like) kinetics ofplasminogen activation (see FIG. 4). The inability to be self-activatedimmediately (as is the case with native, unmodified SK which activatesPG virtually upon contact) is due to a plasmin-dependent mode of itsaction. In contrast, native SK does not require any plasmin to beactivated, but is activated virtually as soon as it complexes with PG.In experiments where samples were withdrawn from reactions at differenttime points in the progress curves of plasminogen activation i.e. duringthe early phase (in the lag period), rapid activation phase etc, andanalyzed with SDS-PAGE to follow the type of products, it was observedthat the activation closely followed the generation of truncatedfragments in which the PEG containing peptide segments at the ends ofthe polypeptide were cleaved off by the action of plasmin. Similarresults were obtained by Mass spectroscopic analyses. These resultsclearly established a correlation between plasminogen activation by thePEG-modified SK upon the elimination of the PEG groups, indicating aplasmin-mediated mechanism of activation wherein the bulky PEG groups,once removed, allowed the SK fragments to interact with plasminogen justas nSK and activate it rapidly. Clearly, therefore, the presence of thePEG groups at the termini—apart from conferring a stabilizing influenceagainst proteolysis, immune reactivity etc expected irrespective ofposition—also resulted in the unexpected creation of a plasmin dependent“switch”, which has powerful beneficial effects in thrombolytic therapy.

The functional attribute of plasmin dependency i.e. in-built “plasminswitch” was found among other bi-PEGylated cysteine variants oftruncated SK, where additional cysteines are placed at the twoextremities of the polypeptide i.e. at the N- and C-termini, whichexhibits an unexpected property in respect to its human plasminogenactivation characteristics in that it has a markedly slower initial rateof activation of plasminogen (PG) compared to unmodified SK, but becomesfully capable of activating plasminogen in a manner similar to that ofunmodified SK after an initial lag of several minutes' duration whenassayed for PG activation in vitro. Table 4 shows the steady-statekinetics parameters for HPG activation by SK and the two differentbi-pegylated SK variants. NC 1-414 denotes SK variant where cysteine hasbeen added both prior to naturally present N-terminal amino-acid andafter the C-terminal amino-acid to generate a double cysteine mutant ofSK. NC 1-383 denotes the truncated variant of SK where one cysteine eachhas been added prior to the naturally occurring N-terminal amino-acid,and after the three consecutive glycine residues that are placed next tothe 383rd amino-acid. The data shows that both the bi-pegylated variantsshow a pronounced initial lag before they become fully functional. Thekinetic parameters, when calculated from the linear phases of thereaction progress curves after the abolishment of the lag phase, showedthat once fully activated after completion of the initial lag, bothbi-pegylated variant became significantly active in terms of their PGactivation abilities when compared to SK. Similar results were obtainedwith two bi-pegylated SK variant where the PEG is attached at thetermini, showing that this new functional attribute is positional ineffect and not merely dependent on the presence of dual PEG modificationwithin the same molecule. Thus, plasmin dependency is imparted into themolecule whenever either or both of the two termini at the N- andC-termini, in any functional fragment of SK are PEGylated.

In addition, it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that sucha functional attribute can also be imparted to the molecule by anymodification in and around the two termini (such as a suitable lysineside-chain) would also lead to a plasmin dependent lag in plasminogenactivation characteristics owing to proteolytic processing of thestreptokinase wherein such “blocking” groups which may be PEG moieties,other protein domains, intact proteins such as albumin etc are removedby proteolysis, allowing the remainder of the polypeptide to becomefunctionally active vis-a-vis plasminogen activation. Similar effectsare therefore to be expected when one attaches the PEG groups at thetermini using whatsoever chemistry is available. One such chemistryutilizes the differential pKa value of the alpha amino group at theN-terminus to specifically conjugate amine reactive PEG groups at thealpha amine. Similar attributes with different truncated combinations oftermini indicate that as long as the two PEG groups are placed at anylocation in or around the two termini, the plasmin dependency can begenerated in the molecule.

Thus, after injection into the body, such a SK variant will make itsvoyage through the vascular system while still in an inactive, orpartially active, state. However, it will preferentially becomeactivated in the immediate vicinity of the clot the moment it contactsthe clot, which is known to be plasmin-rich whereas the generalcirculation is not (free plasmin being rapidly inactivated in the ‘open’circulation due to the presence of plasmin-specific Serpins (serineprotease inhibitors) such as alpha-2-antiplasmin andalpha-2-macroglobulin), thereby obviating or significantly minimizingthe systemic PG activation coincident with natural SK administrationwhich immediately activates PG upon administration and consequentside-effects such as hemorrhage and large scale destruction of variousprotein components of the vascular system. This property i.e.plasmin-dependant activation, along with the extended eliminationhalf-life, and low immunogenic and antigenic reactivity would result innot only an overall diminished generation of free plasmin in the generalcirculation but also the ability for the thrombolytic to be administeredrepeatedly for various circulatory maladies in a relatively lower dosewhile avoiding unwanted immune reactions. The net result shall be acontinued and more efficient fibrinolysis at the target sustained byconsiderably lowered therapeutically effective dosages of thethrombolytic agent with minimized side-effects.

A further improvement over this attribute is to impart the fibrindependency in the bi-PEGylated molecule by placing the PEG groups at thetwo extremes of SK 50-414 or SK 60-383 variants. This outcome ispossible because deletion of a “catalytic switch” (SK residues 1-59)alters the conformation of the SK alpha domain and converts suchtruncated fragments into a fibrin-dependent plasminogen activator asreported by Reed et. al., 1999 and Sazonova et. al., 2004. The expectedoutcome of designing such bi-PEGylated variants is both a plasmindependency and an improved fibrin dependency/affinity. These twoattributes i.e. plasmin dependency and the fibrin affinity/selectivitymakes the molecule a PG activator that is highly directed towards fibrinclots. Such molecules can effectively obviate the problem of systemic PGactivation and allow a stringent PG activation to occur only in the nearvicinity of the fibrin clot.

Example 9 Pharmacokinetic Analysis of PEGylated Cysteine Variants ofStreptokinases

All proteins used for injection in animal were treated thoroughly toremove endo-toxin by passage through a column consisting of Polymyxin BAgarose (BioRad Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., USA) gel. Various monoPEGylatedSK derivatives representing cysteine incorporation in each domain, andthe native SK (as control) were radio-iodinated with 125I using theTodogen (Fraker & Speck, 1978) method, and separated from freeradio-iodine by passing through Sephadex G-25 desalting column. CD1 mice(23-25 g) were anaesthetized with 3% iso-fluorane and mild vasodilationwas induced by exposing the tail to a 100 watt fluorescence lamp. Micewere then injected with around 7 microgram of radio-iodinated protein insterile saline, via the tail vein, and whole blood samples ofapproximately 50 microL were collected over time using tail transactionor from retro-orbital sinus and kept in heparinized eppendorf tubes.Samples were processed to yield plasma and were evaluated for 125Iactivity in a Perkin-Elmer-scintillation counter. After determination ofplasma 125I activity, an equal volume of 20% TCA was added to eachplasma aliquot, to determine the amount of 125I activity that remainedassociated with intact protein. The samples were briefly vortex-mixedand were placed on ice for 15 min. The aliquots were centrifuged atapproximately 3000.times.g for 10 min, and the supernatant, containingfree label or label associated with fragmented protein, was aspiratedfrom each sample. The resultant TCA-precipitated pellet was analyzed for125I activity. In general, duplicate samples were processed and thevalues were averaged.

Residual acid-precipitable radioactivity in different plasma samplesfollowing injection for PEGylated cysteine variants of streptokinaseswere used for of in vivo half life determination. Results of half-lifestudy show variable degrees of in vivo retention for the different PEGvariants when they were conjugated with single or double or triple PEGmoieties. The results show that with the addition of more than one PEGgroup the resultant half-lives are also amplified. The half-life for fewselected PEGylated SK variants are summarized in Table 32, which showsthat on an average there is 5 to 120 fold increase in the eliminationhalf-life for the different mono, bi and tri-PEGylated cysteine variantsof streptokinases. Plasma retention times of PEGylated cysteine variantsof SK are found to be dependent on the position of PEG attachment. Alpha88-97 loop PEG variants show maximum increase (.about.15-20 fold) in invivo retention time while beta domain PEG variants of SK showintermediate increase (.about.10-12 fold) in the in vivo retention.Gamma domain PEG variants show nearly 4-5 fold increase in the in vivohalf life. In general, all PEGylated streptokinases showed multifoldincrease in the half-life when compared to native SK (12-15 minutes).This signifies a considerable increase in the in vivo half-life of thePEGylated cysteine variant, and demonstrates the extended time-action ofthe PEGylated SK. Similar results were obtained with the other cysteinylSK variants after PEGylation. It is well known that an extendedtime-action of the PEGylated variant is a result of the PEG moiety andis not dependent on the location of the PEG polymer on the SK. Thus,attaching the PEG moiety via a cysteine residue will result in aPEGylated SK or SK chimeric variant with extended time-actioncharacteristics allowing for fewer administration of the PEGylatedcompound while maintaining a high blood level of the compound over aprolonged period of time.

Additivity in the elimination half-life when two PEG groups are attachedshows that one can manipulate at will, or tailor-make, the eliminationhalf-life by conjugation of PEG groups in required number, position andalso by varying the PEG polymer size.

Example 10 Immune Reactivity of PEGylated Cysteine Variants ofStreptokinases

Reactivity of nSK and PEGylated cysteine variants of SK and itscovalently modified forms against SK (polyclonal) anti-sera raised inrabbit was examined by an ELISA-based method. The procedure for ELISAwas as follows.

1. SK and PEGylated SK variants were first diluted in 0.2M Bicarbonatebuffer, pH 9.2 to make 100 microliter of solution containing 0.75microgram to 1.5 microgram of protein and this was added to each well ofthe microtiter plate (Nunc 96-Well Microplates, Cole-Parmer USA)

2. The antigen coated plate was covered with Paraffin and incubated inthe cold room overnight in a moist box containing a wet paper towel orat room temperature and humidity for two hours under gentle shakingcondition.

3. The plate was emptied and the unoccupied sites are blocked with 200μl of blocking buffer containing 5-10% of skim-milk in Phosphatebuffered saline (PBS) for 1 hr at room temperature.

4. The plate was emptied and washed four times with wash buffer made upof PBS.

5. The primary antibody solution was first diluted in PBS to give adilution factor of 50000. 100 μl of the diluted antibody was added toeach well. The plate was then incubated at room temperature for 45-60minutes under gentle shaking.

6. The plate was emptied again and washed four times with wash buffer.

7. The Horse-redish peroxidase enzyme-labeled antibody against antigenwas diluted appropriately in PBS. 100 μl of this dilution was added toeach well and incubated at room temperature for 1 hr.

8. The plate was emptied again and washed six times with 1×PBS.

9. To each well 100 μl of 1×TMB (Tetramethylbenzidine Liquid substrate,Sigma-Aldrich, USA) was added and the plate was left for 10 minutes atroom temperature.

To stop the reaction 50 μl 1N Sulphuric acid was added to each well andthe color development was read spectrophotometrically at 450 nm.

Absorption values at 450 nm in the ELISA, obtained for unmodified nSKand various PEGylated variants of SK, were used for evaluation of therelative levels of their immune-reactivity against SK polyclonal seraraised in rabbit. The ELISA studies showed that conjugation of one PEGgroup of 20 KDa in any of the three domain of SK reduces its reactivityto well below 20% against SK polyclonal sera. Conjugation of two PEGgroups of 20 KDa i.e. one at N- and another at C-terminus of SK reducedtheir reactivity to well below 10% against SK polyclonal sera.Conjugation of three PEG groups of 20 KDa i.e. one in each domain of SKrendered the reactivity to barely detectable levels. Hence, it is clearthat the conjugation of the PEG moiet(ies) to the different regions ofSK significantly reduces their reactivity against SK polyclonal sera. Invitro tests showing reduced antibody reactivity established that areduced induction of immune response occurs once the PEGylated proteinis injected into the live animal. Table 33 lists the percent immunereactivity retained in PEGylated SK variants while taking the reactivityof wild type unmodified SK as 100%. The present invention thus disclosesPEGylated streptokinase variants with markedly reduced immunoreactivitybut intact thrombolytic potency

Advantages of the Invention

The advantage of the present invention lies in its disclosure of thedesign of cysteine variants of streptokinase its muteins, speciesvariants and covalently modified forms. Site specific PEG conjugation tothe cysteine variants disclosed in this invention imparts various usefultherapeutic properties to the streptokinase molecule such as increasedproteolytic stability, improved in vivo half life and less immunereactivity. More particularly, the invention relates to production ofengineered streptokinase derivatives for use in pharmaceuticalcompositions for treating circulatory disorders.

TABLE 1 Solvent accessibility values for various amino-acid selected forcysteine substitution. Location of cysteine SK or variant mutationAccessibility I 88 88-97 loop of alpha domain 30 S 93 88-97 loop ofalpha domain 42 D 95 88-97 loop of alpha domain 132 D 96 88-97 loop ofalpha domain 58 D 102 β4 of alpha domain 58 S 105 Preciding the β4′ 123D 120 Region between β5 and β6 65 K 121 Region between β5 and β6 199domain D 122 Region between β5 and β6 101 of alpha domain E 148 Linkerregion of alpha and 118 beta domain K 156 Linker region of alpha and 109beta domain D 173 Loop between β1 and β2 of 145 beta domain D 174 Loopbetween β1 and β2 of 111 beta domain L 179 β2 of beta domain 54 D 181 Atthe end of β2 of beta 36 domain S 205 α helix (α3,4) of beta 62 domain N255 250 loop of beta domain 41 K 256 250 loop of beta domain 174 K 257250 loop of beta domain 189 S 258 250 loop of beta domain 79 L 260 250loop of beta domain 112 K 282 Linker region of beta and 154 gamma domainF 287 Linker region of beta and 161 gamma domain D 303 β1 of gammadomain 134 L 321 Coiled - coil region of 47 gamma domain L 326 Coiled -coil region of 12 gamma domain A 333 Coiled - coil region of 24 gammadomain D 347 β4 of the gamma domain 53 R 372 β7 of the gamma domain 234

TABLE 2 Different constructs of SK its muteins and fusion polypeptidesthat were used for cysteine mutagenesis MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO1 nSK (1-414) ATCC 12449 SEQ ID NO 2 SK (1-383) SEQ ID NO 3 SK (16-414)SEQ ID NO 4 SK (16-383) SEQ ID NO 5 SK (60-414) SEQ ID NO 6 SK (60-383)SEQ ID NO 7 SK Asn 90 Ala (1-414) SEQ ID NO 8 SK Asp 227 Tyr (1-414) SEQID NO 9 SK Asp 238 Ala (1-414) SEQ ID NO 10 SK Glu 240 Ala (1-414) SEQID NO 11 SK Arg 244 Ala (1-414) SEQ ID NO 12 SK Lys 246 Ala (1-414) SEQID NO 13 SK Leu 260 Ala (1-414) SEQ ID NO 14 SK Asp 359 Arg (1-414) SEQID NO 15 SK His, Ser 92, 93 Ala, Ala (1-414) SEQ ID NO 16 SK Lys, Lys278, 279 Ala, Ala (1-414) SEQ ID NO 17 SK Asn 90 del (1-413) SEQ ID NO18 SK Asp 227 del (1-413) SEQ ID NO 19 SK Asp 359 del (1-413) SEQ ID NO20 SK (1-406) Streptococcus pyogenes MGAS10270, ABF34818.1 SEQ ID NO 21SK (1-414) Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. Equisimilis, AAC60418 SEQID NO 22 Fn SK (1-531) SEQ ID NO 23 SK Fn (1-502) SEQ ID NO 24 Fn SK Fn(1-619)

TABLE 3 Cysteine substitution on SK polypeptide (SEQ ID NO 1): 1-414MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 25 Gly 49 Cys SEQ ID NO 26 Ser 57 CysSEQ ID NO 27 Ala 64 Cys SEQ ID NO 28 Ile 88 Cys SEQ ID NO 29 Ser 93 CysSEQ ID NO 30 Asp 95 Cys SEQ ID NO 31 Asp 96 Cys SEQ ID NO 32 Asp 102 CysSEQ ID NO 33 Asp 105 Cys SEQ ID NO 34 Asp 120 Cys SEQ ID NO 35 Lys 121Cys SEQ ID NO 36 Asp 122 Cys SEQ ID NO 37 Glu 148 Cys SEQ ID NO 38 Lys156 Cys SEQ ID NO 39 Asp 173 Cys SEQ ID NO 40 Asp 174 Cys SEQ ID NO 41Leu 179 Cys SEQ ID NO 42 Asp 181 Cys SEQ ID NO 43 Ser 205 Cys SEQ ID NO44 Ala 251 Cys SEQ ID NO 45 Ile 254 Cys SEQ ID NO 46 Asn 255 Cys SEQ IDNO 47 Lys 256 Cys SEQ ID NO 48 Lys 257 Cys SEQ ID NO 49 Ser 258 Cys SEQID NO 50 Leu 260 Cys SEQ ID NO 51 Glu 281 Cys SEQ ID NO 52 Lys 282 CysSEQ ID NO 53 Phe 287 Cys SEQ ID NO 54 Asp 303 Cys SEQ ID NO 55 Leu 321Cys SEQ ID NO 56 Leu 326 Cys SEQ ID NO 57 Ala 333 Cys SEQ ID NO 58 Asp347 Cys SEQ ID NO 59 Asp 360 Cys SEQ ID NO 60 Arg 372 Cys SEQ ID NO 61Ile 88 Cys, Ser 205 Cys SEQ ID NO 62 Ser 93Cys, Asn 255 Cys SEQ ID NO 63Asp 102 Cys, Arg 372 Cys SEQ ID NO 64 Ser 105 Cys, and Phe 287 Cys SEQID NO 65 Lys 121 Cys, Asp 360 Cys SEQ ID NO 66 Ile 88 Cys, Ser 205 Cys,Arg 372 SEQ ID NO 67 Ser 93 Cys, Asn 255 Cys, Asp 347 Cys SEQ ID NO 68Ser 93 Cys, Asn 255 Cys, Phe 287 Cys SEQ ID NO 69 Asp 102 Cys, Leu 260Cys, Arg 372 Cys SEQ ID NO 70 Ser 105 Cys, Leu 260 Cys, Phe 287 Cys

TABLE 4 Single Cysteine substitution on truncated SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO 2): 1-383 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 71 Gly 49 Cys SEQ ID NO 72Ser 57 Cys SEQ ID NO 73 Ala 64 Cys SEQ ID NO 74 Ile 88 Cys SEQ ID NO 75Ser 93 Cys SEQ ID NO 76 Asp 95 Cys SEQ ID NO 77 Asp 96 Cys SEQ ID NO 78Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 79 Asp 105 Cys SEQ ID NO 80 Asp 120 Cys SEQ ID NO81 Lys 121 Cys SEQ ID NO 82 Asp 122 Cys SEQ ID NO 83 Glu 148 Cys SEQ IDNO 84 Lys 156 Cys SEQ ID NO 85 Asp 173 Cys SEQ ID NO 86 Asp 174 Cys SEQID NO 87 Leu 179 Cys SEQ ID NO 88 Asp 181 Cys SEQ ID NO 89 Ser 205 CysSEQ ID NO 90 Ala 251 Cys SEQ ID NO 91 Ile 254 Cys SEQ ID NO 92 Asn 255Cys SEQ ID NO 93 Lys 256 Cys SEQ ID NO 94 Lys 257 Cys SEQ ID NO 95 Ser258 Cys SEQ ID NO 96 Leu 260 Cys SEQ ID NO 97 Glu 281 Cys SEQ ID NO 98Lys 282 Cys SEQ ID NO 99 Phe 287 Cys SEQ ID NO 100 Asp 303 Cys SEQ ID NO101 Leu 321 Cys SEQ ID NO 102 Leu 326 Cys SEQ ID NO 103 Ala 333 Cys SEQID NO 104 Asp 347 Cys SEQ ID NO 105 Asp 360 Cys SEQ ID NO 106 Arg 372Cys SEQ ID NO 107 Ile 88 Cys, Ser 205 Cys SEQ ID NO 108 Ser 93Cys, Asn255 Cys SEQ ID NO 109 Asp 102 Cys, Arg 372 Cys SEQ ID NO 110 Ser 105Cys, and Phe 287 Cys SEQ ID NO 111 Lys 121 Cys, Asp 360 Cys SEQ ID NO112 Ile 88 Cys, Ser 205 Cys, Arg 372 SEQ ID NO 113 Ser 93 Cys, Asn 255Cys, Asp 347 Cys SEQ ID NO 114 Ser 93 Cys, Asn 255 Cys, Phe 287 Cys SEQID NO 115 Asp 102 Cys, Leu 260 Cys, Arg 372 Cys SEQ ID NO 116 Ser 105Cys, Leu 260 Cys, Phe 287 Cys

TABLE 5 Single Cysteine substitution on truncated SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO 3): 16-414 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 117 Gly 34 Cys SEQ ID NO118 Ser 42 Cys SEQ ID NO 119 Ala 49 Cys SEQ ID NO 120 Ile 73 Cys SEQ IDNO 121 Ser 78 Cys SEQ ID NO 122 Asp 80 Cys SEQ ID NO 123 Asp 81 Cys SEQID NO 124 Asp 87 Cys SEQ ID NO 125 Ser 90 Cys SEQ ID NO 126 Asp 105 CysSEQ ID NO 127 Lys 106 Cys SEQ ID NO 128 Asp 107 Cys SEQ ID NO 129 Glu133 Cys SEQ ID NO 130 Lys 141 Cys SEQ ID NO 131 Asp 158 Cys SEQ ID NO132 Asp 159 Cys SEQ ID NO 133 Leu 164 Cys SEQ ID NO 134 Asp 166 Cys SEQID NO 135 Ser 190 Cys SEQ ID NO 136 Ala 236 Cys SEQ ID NO 137 Ile 239Cys SEQ ID NO 138 Asn 240 Cys SEQ ID NO 139 Lys 241 Cys SEQ ID NO 140Lys 242 Cys SEQ ID NO 141 Ser 243 Cys SEQ ID NO 142 Leu 245 Cys SEQ IDNO 143 Glu 266 Cys SEQ ID NO 144 Lys 267 Cys SEQ ID NO 145 Phe 272 CysSEQ ID NO 146 Asp 288 Cys SEQ ID NO 147 Leu 306 Cys SEQ ID NO 148 Leu311 Cys SEQ ID NO 149 Ala 318 Cys SEQ ID NO 150 Asp 332 Cys SEQ ID NO151 Asp 345 Cys SEQ ID NO 152 Arg 357 Cys SEQ ID NO 153 Ile 73 Cys, Ser190 Cys SEQ ID NO 154 Ser 78 Cys, Asn 240 Cys SEQ ID NO 155 Asp 87 Cys,Arg 357 Cys SEQ ID NO 156 Ser 90 Cys, and Phe 272 Cys SEQ ID NO 157 Lys106 Cys, Asp 345 Cys SEQ ID NO 158 Ile 73 Cys, Ser 190 Cys, Arg 357 CysSEQ ID NO 159 Ser 78 Cys, Asn 240 Cys, Asp 332 Cys SEQ ID NO 160 Ser 78Cys, Asn 240 Cys, Phe 272 Cys SEQ ID NO 161 Asp 87 Cys, Leu 245 Cys, Arg357 Cys SEQ ID NO 162 Ser 90 Cys, Leu 245 Cys, Phe 272 Cys

TABLE 6 Single Cysteine substitution on truncated SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO 4): 16-383 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 163 Gly 34 Cys SEQ ID NO164 Ser 42 Cys SEQ ID NO 165 Ala 49 Cys SEQ ID NO 166 Ile 73 Cys SEQ IDNO 167 Ser 78 Cys SEQ ID NO 168 Asp 80 Cys SEQ ID NO 169 Asp 81 Cys SEQID NO 170 Asp 87 Cys SEQ ID NO 171 Ser 90 Cys SEQ ID NO 172 Asp 105 CysSEQ ID NO 173 Lys 106 Cys SEQ ID NO 174 Asp 107 Cys SEQ ID NO 175 Glu133 Cys SEQ ID NO 176 Lys 141 Cys SEQ ID NO 177 Asp 158 Cys SEQ ID NO178 Asp 159 Cys SEQ ID NO 179 Leu 164 Cys SEQ ID NO 180 Asp 166 Cys SEQID NO 181 Ser 190 Cys SEQ ID NO 182 Ala 236 Cys SEQ ID NO 183 Ile 239Cys SEQ ID NO 184 Asn 240 Cys SEQ ID NO 185 Lys 241 Cys SEQ ID NO 186Lys 242 Cys SEQ ID NO 187 Ser 243 Cys SEQ ID NO 188 Leu 245 Cys SEQ IDNO 189 Glu 266 Cys SEQ ID NO 190 Lys 267 Cys SEQ ID NO 191 Phe 272 CysSEQ ID NO 192 Asp 288 Cys SEQ ID NO 193 Leu 306 Cys SEQ ID NO 194 Leu311 Cys SEQ ID NO 195 Ala 318 Cys SEQ ID NO 196 Asp 332 Cys SEQ ID NO197 Asp 345 Cys SEQ ID NO 198 Arg 357 Cys SEQ ID NO 199 Ile 73 Cys, Ser190 Cys SEQ ID NO 200 Ser 78 Cys, Asn 240 Cys SEQ ID NO 201 Asp 87 Cys,Arg 357 Cys SEQ ID NO 202 Ser 90 Cys, and Phe 272 Cys SEQ ID NO 203 Lys106 Cys, Asp 345 Cys SEQ ID NO 204 Ile 73 Cys, Ser 190 Cys, Arg 357 CysSEQ ID NO 205 Ser 78 Cys, Asn 240 Cys, Asp 332 Cys SEQ ID NO 206 Ser 78Cys, Asn 240 Cys, Phe 272 Cys SEQ ID NO 207 Asp 87 Cys, Leu 245 Cys, Arg357 Cys SEQ ID NO 208 Ser 90 Cys, Leu 245 Cys, Phe 272 Cys

TABLE 7 Single Cysteine substitution on truncated SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO 5): 60-414 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 209 Ala 64 Cys SEQ ID NO210 Ile 88 Cys SEQ ID NO 211 Ser 44 Cys SEQ ID NO 212 Asp 46 Cys SEQ IDNO 213 Asp 47 Cys SEQ ID NO 214 Asp 53 Cys SEQ ID NO 215 Ser 56 Cys SEQID NO 216 Asp 71 Cys SEQ ID NO 217 Lys 72 Cys SEQ ID NO 218 Asp 73 CysSEQ ID NO 219 Glu 99 Cys SEQ ID NO 220 Lys 107 Cys SEQ ID NO 221 Asp 124Cys SEQ ID NO 222 Asp 125 Cys SEQ ID NO 223 Leu 130 Cys SEQ ID NO 224Asp 132 Cys SEQ ID NO 225 Ser 156 Cys SEQ ID NO 226 Ala 202 Cys SEQ IDNO 227 Ile 205 Cys SEQ ID NO 228 Asn 206 Cys SEQ ID NO 229 Lys 207 CysSEQ ID NO 230 Lys 208 Cys SEQ ID NO 231 Ser 209 Cys SEQ ID NO 232 Leu211 Cys SEQ ID NO 233 Glu 232 Cys SEQ ID NO 234 Lys 233 Cys SEQ ID NO235 Phe 238 Cys SEQ ID NO 236 Asp 254 Cys SEQ ID NO 237 Leu 272 Cys SEQID NO 238 Leu 277 Cys SEQ ID NO 239 Ala 284 Cys SEQ ID NO 240 Asp 298Cys SEQ ID NO 241 Asp 311 Cys SEQ ID NO 242 Arg 323 Cys SEQ ID NO 243Ile 39 Cys, Ser 156 Cys SEQ ID NO 244 Ser 44 Cys, Asn 206 Cys SEQ ID NO245 Asp 53 Cys, Arg 323 Cys SEQ ID NO 246 Ser 56 Cys, and Phe 238 CysSEQ ID NO 247 Lys 72 Cys, Asp 311 Cys SEQ ID NO 248 Ile 39 Cys, Ser 156Cys, Arg 323 Cys SEQ ID NO 249 Ser 44 Cys, Asn 255 Cys, Asp 347 Cys SEQID NO 250 Ser 93 Cys, Asn 255 Cys, Phe 287 Cys SEQ ID NO 251 Asp 53 Cys,Leu 211 Cys, Arg 323 Cys SEQ ID NO 252 Ser 56 Cys, Leu 211 Cys, Phe 238Cys

TABLE 8 Single Cysteine substitution on truncated SK polypeptide (SEQ IDNO 6): 60-383 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 253 Ala 5 Cys SEQ ID NO254 Ile 29 Cys SEQ ID NO 255 Ser 34 Cys SEQ ID NO 256 Asp 36 Cys SEQ IDNO 257 Asp 37 Cys SEQ ID NO 258 Asp 43 Cys SEQ ID NO 259 Ser 46 Cys SEQID NO 260 Asp 61 Cys SEQ ID NO 261 Lys 62 Cys SEQ ID NO 262 Asp 63 CysSEQ ID NO 263 Glu 89 Cys SEQ ID NO 264 Lys 97 Cys SEQ ID NO 265 Asp 114Cys SEQ ID NO 266 Asp 115 Cys SEQ ID NO 267 Leu 120 Cys SEQ ID NO 268Asp 122 Cys SEQ ID NO 269 Ser 146 Cys SEQ ID NO 270 Ala 192 Cys SEQ IDNO 271 Ile 195 Cys SEQ ID NO 272 Asn 196 Cys SEQ ID NO 273 Lys 197 CysSEQ ID NO 274 Lys 198 Cys SEQ ID NO 275 Ser 199 Cys SEQ ID NO 276 Leu201 Cys SEQ ID NO 277 Glu 222 Cys SEQ ID NO 278 Lys 223 Cys SEQ ID NO279 Phe 287228 Cys SEQ ID NO 280 Asp 244 Cys SEQ ID NO 281 Leu 262 CysSEQ ID NO 282 Leu 267 Cys SEQ ID NO 283 Ala 274 Cys SEQ ID NO 284 Asp188 Cys SEQ ID NO 285 Asp 301 Cys SEQ ID NO 286 Arg 313 Cys SEQ ID NO287 Ile 29 Cys, Ser 146 Cys SEQ ID NO 288 Ser 34 Cys, Asn 196 Cys SEQ IDNO 289 Asp 43 Cys, Arg 313 Cys SEQ ID NO 290 Ser 46 Cys, and Phe 228 CysSEQ ID NO 291 Lys 62 Cys, Asp 301 Cys SEQ ID NO 292 Ile 29 Cys, Ser 146Cys, Arg 313 Cys SEQ ID NO 293 Ser 34 Cys, Asn 196 Cys, Asp 288 Cys SEQID NO 294 Ser 34 Cys, Asn 196 Cys, Phe 228 Cys SEQ ID NO 295 Asp 43 Cys,Leu 201 Cys, Arg 313 Cys SEQ ID NO 296 Ser 46 Cys, Leu 201 Cys, Phe 228Cys

TABLE 9 Cysteine variants of SK 1-414 mutein, Asn 90 Ala: (SEQ ID NO 7)MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 297 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 298 Leu 260Cys SEQ ID NO 299 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 10 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Asp 227 Tyr: (SEQ ID NO8) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 300 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 301 Leu 260Cys SEQ ID NO 302 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 11 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Asp 238 Ala: (SEQ ID NO9) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 303 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 304 Leu 260Cys SEQ ID NO 305 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 12 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Glu 240 Ala: (SEQ ID NO10) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 306 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 307 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 308 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 13 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Arg 244 Ala: (SEQ ID NO11) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 309 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 310 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 311 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 14 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Lys 246 Ala: (SEQ ID NO12) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 312 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 313 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 314 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 15 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Leu 260 Ala: (SEQ ID NO13) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 315 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 316 Asn255 Cys SEQ ID NO 317 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 16 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Asp 359 Arg: (SEQ ID NO14) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 318 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 319 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 320 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 17 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, His, Ser, 92, 93 Ala,Ala: (SEQ ID NO 15) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 321 Asp 102 Cys SEQID NO 322 Leu 260 Cys SEQ ID NO 323 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 18 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Lys, Lys 278, 279 Ala,Ala: (SEQ ID NO 16) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 324 Asp 102 Cys SEQID NO 325 Leu 260 Cys SEQ ID NO 326 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 19 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Asn 90 del: (SEQ ID NO17) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 327 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 328 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 329 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 20 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Asp 227 del: (SEQ ID NO18) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 330 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 331 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 332 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 21 Cysteine variants of SK (1-414) mutein, Asp 359 del: (SEQ ID NO19) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 333 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 334 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 335 Asp 347 Cys

TABLE 22 Cysteine variants of Streptococcus pyogenes MGAS10270 (SEQ IDNO 20) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 336 Ile 80 Cys SEQ ID NO 337 Ser85 Cys SEQ ID NO 338 Asp 94 Cys SEQ ID NO 339 Ile 246 Cys SEQ ID NO 340Asp 339 Cys SEQ ID NO 341 Arg 364 Cys

TABLE 23 Cysteine variants of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp.equisimilis (SEQ ID NO 21) MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 342 Ile 88Cys SEQ ID NO 343 Ser 93 Cys SEQ ID NO 344 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 345 Leu260 Cys SEQ ID NO 346 Asp 347 Cys SEQ ID NO 347 Arg 372 Cys

TABLE 24 Cysteine variants of polypeptide where fibrin domain is fusedto N-terminus of SK (SEQ ID NO 22): 1-531 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ IDNO 348 His 16 Cys SEQ ID NO 349 Ala 17 Cys SEQ ID NO 350 Asp 62 Cys SEQID NO 351 Gly 80 Cys SEQ ID NO 352 Gly 166 Cys SEQ ID NO 353 Ser 174 CysSEQ ID NO 354 Ala 181 Cys SEQ ID NO 355 Ile 205 Cys SEQ ID NO 356 Ser210 Cys SEQ ID NO 357 Asp 212 Cys SEQ ID NO 358 Asp 213 Cys SEQ ID NO359 Asp 219 Cys SEQ ID NO 360 Ser 222 Cys SEQ ID NO 361 Asp 237 Cys SEQID NO 362 Lys 238 Cys SEQ ID NO 363 Asp 239 Cys SEQ ID NO 364 Glu 265Cys SEQ ID NO 365 Lys 273 Cys SEQ ID NO 366 Asp 290 Cys SEQ ID NO 367Asp 291 Cys SEQ ID NO 368 Leu 296 Cys SEQ ID NO 369 Asp 298 Cys SEQ IDNO 370 Ser 322 Cys SEQ ID NO 371 Ile 371 Cys SEQ ID NO 372 Asn 372 CysSEQ ID NO 373 Lys 373 Cys SEQ ID NO 374 Lys 374 Cys SEQ ID NO 375 Ser375 Cys SEQ ID NO 376 Leu 377 Cys SEQ ID NO 377 Glu 398 Cys SEQ ID NO378 Lys 399 Cys SEQ ID NO 379 Phe 404 Cys SEQ ID NO 380 Asp 420 Cys SEQID NO 381 Leu 438 Cys SEQ ID NO 382 Leu 443 Cys SEQ ID NO 383 Ala 450Cys SEQ ID NO 384 Asp 464 Cys SEQ ID NO 385 Asp 477 Cys SEQ ID NO 386Arg 489 Cys SEQ ID NO 387 His 16 Cys, Ile 205 Cys SEQ ID NO 388 His 16Cys, Ser 322 Cys SEQ ID NO 389 His 16 Cys, Leu 377 Cys SEQ ID NO 390 His16 Cys, Arg 489 Cys

TABLE 25 Cysteine variants of polypeptide where fibrin domain is fusedto C-terminal of SK (SEQ ID NO 23): 1-502 MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ IDNO 391 Gly 49 Cys SEQ ID NO 392 Ser 57 Cys SEQ ID NO 393 Ala 64 Cys SEQID NO 394 Ile 88 Cys SEQ ID NO 395 Ser 93 Cys SEQ ID NO 396 Asp 95 CysSEQ ID NO 397 Asp 96 Cys SEQ ID NO 398 Asp 102 Cys SEQ ID NO 399 Asp 105Cys SEQ ID NO 400 Asp 120 Cys SEQ ID NO 401 Lys 121 Cys SEQ ID NO 402Asp 122 Cys SEQ ID NO 403 Glu 148 Cys SEQ ID NO 404 Lys 156 Cys SEQ IDNO 405 Asp 173 Cys SEQ ID NO 406 Asp 174 Cys SEQ ID NO 407 Leu 179 CysSEQ ID NO 408 Asp 181 Cys SEQ ID NO 409 Ser 205 Cys SEQ ID NO 410 Ala251 Cys SEQ ID NO 411 Ile 254 Cys SEQ ID NO 412 Asn 255 Cys SEQ ID NO413 Lys 256 Cys SEQ ID NO 414 Lys 257 Cys SEQ ID NO 415 Ser 258 Cys SEQID NO 416 Leu 260 Cys SEQ ID NO 417 Glu 281 Cys SEQ ID NO 418 Lys 282Cys SEQ ID NO 419 Phe 287 Cys SEQ ID NO 420 Asp 303 Cys SEQ ID NO 421Leu 321 Cys SEQ ID NO 422 Leu 326 Cys SEQ ID NO 423 Ala 333 Cys SEQ IDNO 424 Asp 347 Cys SEQ ID NO 425 Asp 360 Cys SEQ ID NO 426 Arg 372 CysSEQ ID NO 427 His 401 Cys SEQ ID NO 428 Ala 402 Cys SEQ ID NO 429 Asp447 Cys SEQ ID NO 430 Gly 465 Cys SEQ ID NO 431 Ile 88 Cys, His 401 CysSEQ ID NO 432 Ser 205 Cys, His 401 Cys SEQ ID NO 433 Leu 260 Cys, His401 Cys SEQ ID NO 434 Arg 372 Cys, His 401 Cys

TABLE 26 Cysteine variants of polypeptide where fibrin domain is fusedto both N and C-terminus of SK (SEQ ID NO 24): 1-619 MOLECULEMODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 435 His 16 Cys SEQ ID NO 436 Ala 17 Cys SEQ ID NO437 Asp 62 Cys SEQ ID NO 438 Gly 80 Cys SEQ ID NO 439 Gly 166 Cys SEQ IDNO 440 Ser 157 Cys SEQ ID NO 441 Ala 181 Cys SEQ ID NO 442 Ile 205 CysSEQ ID NO 443 Ser 210 Cys SEQ ID NO 444 Asp 212 Cys SEQ ID NO 445 Asp213 Cys SEQ ID NO 446 Asp 219 Cys SEQ ID NO 447 Asp 212 Cys SEQ ID NO448 Asp 237 Cys SEQ ID NO 449 Lys 238 Cys SEQ ID NO 450 Asp 239 Cys SEQID NO 451 Glu 265 Cys SEQ ID NO 452 Lys 273 Cys SEQ ID NO 453 Asp 290Cys SEQ ID NO 454 Asp 291 Cys SEQ ID NO 455 Leu 296 Cys SEQ ID NO 456Asp 298 Cys SEQ ID NO 457 Ser 322 Cys SEQ ID NO 458 Ile 371 Cys SEQ IDNO 459 Asn 372 Cys SEQ ID NO 460 Lys 373 Cys SEQ ID NO 461 Lys 374 CysSEQ ID NO 462 Ser 375 Cys SEQ ID NO 463 Leu 377 Cys SEQ ID NO 464 Glu398 Cys SEQ ID NO 465 Lys 399 Cys SEQ ID NO 466 Phe 404 Cys SEQ ID NO467 Asp 420 Cys SEQ ID NO 468 Leu 438 Cys SEQ ID NO 469 Leu 443 Cys SEQID NO 470 Ala 450 Cys SEQ ID NO 471 Asp 464 Cys SEQ ID NO 472 Asp 477Cys SEQ ID NO 473 Arg 489 Cys SEQ ID NO 474 His 518 Cys SEQ ID NO 475Ala 519 Cys SEQ ID NO 476 Asp 564 Cys SEQ ID NO 477 Gly 582 Cys SEQ IDNO 478 His 16 Cys, Leu 377 Cys SEQ ID NO 479 His 16 Cys, Ser 322 Cys,SEQ ID NO 480 His 16 Cys, His 518 Cys SEQ ID NO 481 Ala 17 Cys, Ala 519Cys SEQ ID NO 482 Asp 62 Cys, Asp 564 Cys SEQ ID NO 483 Gly 80 Cys, Gly582 Cys SEQ ID NO 484 His 16 Cys, Leu 377 Cys, Arg 489 Cys SEQ ID NO 485His 16 Cys, Leu 377 Cys, His 518 Cys

TABLE 27 Cysteine insertion mutants of SK MOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ IDNO 486 Cys between Ile 88 and Ala 89 of SK SEQ ID NO 487 Cys between Lys256 and Lys 257 of SK SEQ ID NO 488 Cys between Asp 347 and Tyr 348 ofSK

TABLE 28 Cysteine variants of SK where Cys is placed at the termini ofSK or its functional fragment with or without a peptide extensionMOLECULE MODIFICATION SEQ ID NO 489 Cys at N − 1 position in SK SEQ IDNO 490 Cys at C + 1 position in SK SEQ ID NO 491 Cys at N − 1 and at C +1 position in SK SEQ ID NO 492 Cys at C + 1 position of SEQ ID (1-383,G3 of SK) SEQ ID NO 493 Cys at N − 1 and at C + 1 position in SK (1-383,G3) SEQ ID NO 494 Cys in N-terminally His tagged SK SEQ ID NO 495 Cys atC-terminally His tagged SK SEQ ID NO 496 Cys with Additional 20 aa tagof pET 15b before Ile

TABLE 29 Steady-state kinetic parameters for some representativePEGylated cysteine variants of PEGylated streptokinases. Activity ofnative SK is being taken as 100% to compare the activities of variants %Plasminogen SEQ ID NO Activator protein activation Km (μM) SEQ ID NO 1nSK 100 0.4 ± 0.1  SEQ ID NO 489 N-Cys 88 ± 5 0.4 ± 0.05 SEQ ID NO 30 SKD95C 96 ± 6 0.5 ± 0.05 SEQ ID NO 31 SK D96C 98 ± 4 0.5 ± 0.05 SEQ ID NO32 SK D102C 74 ± 4 0.5 ± 0.1  SEQ ID NO 33 SK S105C 76 ± 5 0.5 ± 0.12SEQ ID NO 35 SK K121C 95 ± 5 0.4 ± 0.11 SEQ ID NO 39 SK D173C 72 ± 4 0.4± 0.11 SEQ ID NO 41 SK L179C 22 ± 3 0.5 ± 0.12 SEQ ID NO 46 SK N255C 98± 3 0.4 ± 0.13 SEQ ID NO 48 SK N257C 92 ± 4 0.4 ± 0.10 SEQ ID NO 49L258C 100 ± 6  0.5 ± 0.11 SEQ ID NO 50 L260C 100 ± 6  0.6 ± 0.12 SEQ IDNO 492 C-383 Cys 92 ± 4 0.4 ± 0.05 SEQ ID NO 490 C-Cys 95 ± 5 0.4 ± 0.06

TABLE 30 Steady state kinetic parameters for HPG activation by PEGylatedCysteine variants of fibrin domain fusion forms of SK* PEG Variants %Plasminogen# of SEQ ID NO Molecule Lag (min) Km (μM) Activation SEQ IDNO 22 SK Fn 10 0.25-0.6  80-100 SEQ ID NO 23 Fn SK 08 0.24-0.63 60-100SEQ ID NO 24 Fn SK Fn 18 0.48 ± 1.0  60-80  *The parameters werecalculated from the linear phases of the reaction progress curves afterabolishment of the lag phase. #Expressed relative to the activity ofnative SK from streptococcus sp. (ATCC 12,499), taken as 100%

TABLE 31 Steady-state kinetics parameters for HPG activation by SK andthe bi-pegylated SK variants. Activity of native SK is being taken as100% to compare the activities of variants Lag % Plasminogen %Plasminogen SEQ ID NO Molecule (min) Km (μM) Activation Activation* SEQID NO 1 nSK 1 0.45 ± 0.02 100 100 SEQ ID NO 491 bi-pegylated 14 0.42 ±0.03 <5 88 ± 4 NC 1-414 SEQ ID NO 493 bi-pegylated 12 0.48 ± 0.02 <5 92± 6 NC 1-383 *plasminogen activation ability when the SK or variantswere pre-complexed with equimolar plasmin to make SK.PN enzyme complex.

TABLE 32 In vivo half-life in mice for different PEGylated variants ofSK and Clot- specific SK Half life SEQ ID NO Molecule Site of mutation(t½) SEQ ID NO 1 nSK — <15 min SEQ ID NO 489 N-cys Just after start >3hrs codon methionine SEQ ID NO 30 D 95 C 88-97 loop of alpha >4 hrsdomain SEQ ID NO 31 D 96 C 88-97 loop of alpha >4 hrs domain SEQ ID NO48 K 257 C 250 loop of beta domain >2 hrs SEQ ID NO 49 S 258 C 250 loopof beta domain >2 hrs SEQ ID NO 50 L 260 C 250 loop of beta domain >2hrs SEQ ID NO 487 KK 256, 257 Inserted between Lys >2 hrs KCK 256 andLys 257 of the 250 loop of beta domain SEQ ID NO 55 L 321 C Coiled -coil region >1 hr of gamma domain SEQ ID NO 58 D 347 C β4 of the gammadomain >1 hr SEQ ID NO 492 C-383 Cys C-terminal truncation >1 hr at 383position and cysteine placed after three glycine residues SEQ ID NO 490C-cys Cysteine after the >1 hr C-terminal amino-acid SEQ ID NO 491bi-pegylated cysteine both at N >6 hrs NC 1-414 and C-terminus SEQ ID NO493 bi-pegylated cysteine at N-terminus >6 hrs NC 1-383 and at theC-terminus where cysteine is placed after three Gly following truncationat 383

TABLE 33 Immune reactivity of PEGylated cysteine variants ofStreptokinase Immune SEQ ID NO PEG variant reactivity* SEQ ID NO 30 D95C15 ± 2 SEQ ID NO 31 D96C   14 ± 2.5 SEQ ID NO 37 E148C 16 ± 5 SEQ ID NO38 K156C 22 ± 4 SEQ ID NO 41 L179C 17 ± 5 SEQ ID NO 43 S205C 19 ± 3 SEQID NO 50 L260C 17 ± 2 SEQ ID NO 490 C-Cys 19 ± 2 SEQ ID NO 491 N Cys CCys  7 ± 1 SEQ ID NO 62 S93C, N255C   2 ± .02 SEQ ID NO 63 D102C, R372C 2.5 ± .02 SEQ ID NO 61 I88C, S205C   2 ± .05 SEQ ID NO 67 S93C, N255C,D347C <1 SEQ ID NO 68 S93C, N255C, F287C <1 *Immune reactivity weremeasured against anti SK antibodies raised in rabbit. Values arepresented in % reactivity retained while taking wild type reactivity as100%.

TABLE 34 Highly buried residues of Streptokinase unsuitable forsubstitution and further modification Residue No. in SEQ ID 1 Amino-acidSurface accessibility 18 L 0 19 V 0 20 V 1 22 V 8 24 G 5 42 L 0 79 L 983 I 2 87 L 4 97 Y 9 124 S 0 127 L 0 133 Q 7 135 L 0 137 F 4 141 V 3 143V 2 155 A 4 158 V 0 160 V 1 162 Y 1 169 L 8 196 S 0 203 A 0 207 L 1 222S 4 224 V 1 226 H 2 245 V 7 266 N 4 268 D 0 270 I 5 272 E 1 274 Y 4 276V 3 295 F 1 297 I 0 299 Y 0 313 L 3 315 T 2 324 R 3 331 D 0 335 L 1 337Y 2 340 L 1 342 A 6 365 I 1 367 V 0 369 M 0

The following articles and disclosures are incorporated by referenceherein.

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What is claimed is:
 1. A purified mutant streptokinase polypeptidehaving a cysteine residue substituted for at least one amino acidselected from the group consisting of: H16, A17, D62, G80, G166, S157,A181, I205, S210, D212, D213, D219, D222, D237, K238, D239, E265, K273,D290, D291, L296, D298, S322, I371, N372, K373, K374, S375, L377, E398,K399, F404, D420, L438, L443, A450, D464, D477, R489, H518, A519, D564,and G582, relative to the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 24, and wherein saidmutant has biological activity as measured by a standard assay.
 2. Themutant streptokinase as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mutantstreptokinase is a covalently modified hybrid polypeptide comprising thesequence of one of SEQ ID NO: 22-24 and further comprising fibrinbinding domains 4 and 5, or fibrin binding domains 1 and 2, of humanfibronectin.
 3. The mutant streptokinase as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe mutant further comprises an N and/or C-terminus extension of aminoacids.
 4. A mutant streptokinase having the amino acid sequence of SEQID NO: 22, wherein a cysteine residue is substituted for at least anamino acid selected from the group consisting of H16, A17, D62, G80,G166, S157, A181, I205, S210, D212, D213, D219, D222, D237, K238, D239,E265, K273, D290, D291, L296, D298, S322, I1371, N372, K373, K374, S375,L377, E398, K399, F404, D420, L438, L443, A450, D464, D477, and R489,and wherein said mutant has biological activity as measured by astandard assay.
 5. A mutant streptokinase having the amino acid sequenceof SEQ ID NO: 23, wherein a cysteine residue is substituted for at leastan amino acid selected from the group consisting of: G49, S57, A64, 188,S93, D95, D96, D102, S105, D120, K121, D122, E148, K156, D173, D174,L179, D181, S205, A251, I254, N255, K256, K257, S258, L260, E281, K282,F287, D303, L321, L326, A333, D347, D360, R372, H401, A402, D447, andG465, and wherein said mutant has biological activity as measured by astandard assay.
 6. The mutant streptokinase as claimed in claim 1,wherein the substituted cysteine residue is modified with acysteine-reactive moiety.
 7. The mutant streptokinase as claimed inclaim 6, wherein the substituted cysteine residue is modified withpolyethylene glycol.
 8. The mutant streptokinase as claimed in claim 7,wherein said PEG molecule is a linear or branch polymer of molecularsize ranging from 5000 daltons-40,000 daltons.
 9. The mutantstreptokinase as claimed in claim 8, wherein said mutant has increasedproteolytic stability as compared to their original unmodifiedcounterparts.
 10. The mutant streptokinase as claimed in claim 7,wherein said mutant has decreased antigenicity and in vivoimmunogenicity when compared to their original unmodified counterparts.11. The mutant streptokinase as claimed in claim 7, wherein said mutanthas slow renal clearance and increased in vivo half life as compared totheir original unmodified counterparts.
 12. A pharmaceutical compositioncomprising the mutant streptokinase of claim 1, optionally along withpharmaceutically acceptable excipient(s).
 13. The pharmaceuticalcomposition as claimed in claim 12, for treating disease or disorderselected from the group consisting of myocardial infarction, vascularthromboses, pulmonary embolism, stroke a vascular event, angina,pulmonary embolism, transient ischemic attack, deep vein thrombosis,thrombotic re-occlusion subsequent to a coronary intervention procedure,peripheral vascular thrombosis, heart surgery or vascular surgery, heartfailure, Syndrome X and a disorder in which a narrowing of at least onecoronary artery occurs.
 14. A polypeptide comprised of the amino acidsequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO.
 24. 15. A pharmaceutical compositioncomprising the polypeptide of claim 14 in association withpharmaceutically acceptable excipients.